Being employed at an Ica store in Sweden means that a large part of your area of responsibility is customer contact. It can all be about showing where the salsiccia mince is or checking whether the cinnamon buns in the bakery contain almonds or not.
At a store, the employees are also given different areas of responsibility. Someone takes care of fruit and vegetables, another is in charge of the dairy and some stand among the charcuterie and fix cheeses and hams. But something most people get help with in the store is stocking up on goods, taking inventory, sitting at the till and interacting with customers.
DON’T MISS: The loophole thieves use at Ica: “Squeezes the head in”
Sometimes it happens that there is a shortage of various goods. Then the ICA staff gets busy answering the same question every day.
Many Swedes shop every week at Ica. Image source: Fredrik Sandberg /TT
– During Christmas there was a shortage of anchovies. I can say without exaggeration that in half an hour I received 20 questions about anchovies. Just now that I’ve said this, four or five customers have come forward and asked, a store manager at Ica told me News24.
At the time of writing, there is a shortage of meat in many stores, as reported by Nyheter24.
When Nyheter24 contacts ICA and asks if they are centrally aware of the shortage, they answered Mats Heljestrandwho is category manager meat at the company, like this:
DON’T MISS: The ICA store’s advertising – too dirty for customers
“It is true that there is currently a general lack of meat in the industry. We have a close dialogue with our suppliers to follow developments. How the availability of meat looks varies from store to store. “This time of year is historically a period when shortages occur, including when the Christmas and New Year holidays bring many red days which lead to fewer slaughter days and that fewer animals go to slaughter at this time of the year.”
Right now there is a shortage of meat in many stores. Image source: Magnus Hjalmarson Neideman/SvD/TT
Isabel Morettiwho is CEO of Svenskt Kött, says, however, that the whole thing will soon take a turn.
– It’s time to turn around. With interest rates and costs on the way down and the economy stabilizing, the willingness to invest will also increase. What is a bigger challenge in our industry is that it takes a couple of three years before you see results, so we have a shift here.
The store manager at Ica: “The staff at the checkout are forced to do that”
During a normal day at an Ica store, there can be hundreds of customers shopping and every now and then customers appear who act… a little bit special.
DON’T MISS: The shop manager’s plea: Think about this when you buy milk at Ica
– Just the fact that some people put a milk packet among the pears because they “can’t bear to go back with the packet”. Or, for example, when we found pastries in the soft drinks shelf. Soft drinks in the freezer and so on, it’s a bit of a shame as the goods are completely destroyed, he says.
Do you see the staff at the checkout opening your packages? There is a reason behind it. Image source: Janerik Henriksson/TT
This thing about “pretending to forget to take a bag” and then realizing it after paying. Is it common?
– Haha yes. Of course, I understand that some people actually forget and it doesn’t matter much. But some customers who shop often clearly “forget” every time they shop, says the store manager.
DON’T MISS: Here, the elderly are no longer allowed to shop at Ica – that’s the reason
It happens that at the till they quickly open certain packages and products such as hair gel and hair wax. Why do you do it?
– It happens that some people open the products, take the product out, and put back an empty package. Regarding jars with wax and jelly, it happens that some people take a “cloth” and then put the jar back. So it is a discreet check of the product so that it is unused, concludes the store manager.