Local retailers expect that Hungarians will buy fewer and cheaper products during this year’s Christmas shopping season than in the previous year, writes Népszabadság. According to the article, retailers do not expect this year’s holiday season to follow the same pattern as those of the last two years, in which a weak start ended in two strong weeks of sales before Christmas. Feeding the negative expectation are data from the Central Statistical Office (KSH) which show that even the market for foodstuffs continues to be soft, falling 6.6% in August compared to last year.
Retailers polled by the paper say they hope to stave off the worse using discounts and special services. Tesco will employ hostesses in its section for the first time to assist shoppers, while home improvement store Praktiker has launched a webshop to make online Christmas shopping more convenient.
Hostesses in Tesco !!! Don’t make me laugh.
What, so that they can show you all the empty shelves of produce they failed to order, or perhaps they can interest you in something incredibly overpriced? £3 for a jar of Helmann’s mayonaise sir for those Boxing Day sandwiches? Oh and have you remembered the odd pack of mouldy, green ham, you never know when unexpected guests might turn up.
How I chuckle.
Don’t forget about all that dodgy electrical gear, JD. including faulty Xmas tree lights that flicker and then die – as you will if you touch them.
Aggggggghhhhhhhh!!!
Hostesses to help shoppers ??? Do what, exactly?
The mind boggles.
You may laugh but in rural Hungary a trip to the
Tesco is a big day out for the family. Sad but true.
When Jobbik gets the power, all Tescos will be nationalized and turned into Turul shops. That will teach the brittons a lesson.
Next time I am there I will ask the “Hostess” where the f&ck is the low fat milk that they failed to order for 3 weeks. Oh and cucumbers, any chance? Or did you loose the recipe?
Blancmange, I give the flashing Christmas tree light section a wide berth, it’s only a matter of time before one of their low cost suppliers mixes up Guy Fawkes night and Christmas ………flash…….flash ……….boom……….
@Mystery Man, that’s a damn fine idea. It would
certainly teach the Hungarians a lesson when they
have to again start queueing half the day for a loaf
of bread and bribing the shop assistant for a decent
cut of meat.
mystery shopper just to let you know that Tescos.hu bears no comparisan with Tescoes in the UK, shoppers in the UK wouldnt put up with the overpriced goods crap goods and bad service , Tescoe.hu is run by Hungarians as I was told when I contacted Tescos to complain.So put that in your pipe and smoke it!!!
The Tesco phenomenon is interesting in Hungary,
totally different than the UK. In many areas of the
country there is little competition to Tesco. The
ABCs and town centres (= mom’n'pop businesses) must
lose an great deal of business to Tesco, ESPECIALLY
since they have much more limited opening hours. And
I know for a fact that Tesco is rarely cheaper
across the board then these local business. Tesco
wins because they are open all day long, it is
bright and shiny, lots of different goods to window
shop at, one-stop shop for everything, and they are
very good at fooling the public the prices are
better.
@Benny:
You’re absolutely correct – we only shop at Tesco’s when there are special offers for known brands, most of the products they sell (especially under their own brands) are crap and vegetables and meat are of low quality and not always fresh…
Fruit and veg are generally poor quality at Tesco and left on the shelf too long. Mouldy tomatoes are the most common. And the stench from the ‘fresh’ fish counter……………
Mystery Shopper:
1. Jobbik will never “get the power”.
2. Tescos will never be nationalzed…ever.
3. “The bittons” don’t give a flying toss what is
happening in Hungary.
4. Rather as with Ikea (or any foreign titled
store), many complain to hear the sound of their
own squealing little voices, but the Hungarian
public votes withs it’s open purse.
In some ways I really do wish that these
Jobbik guys and gals could just have a small opportunity to win an election, (preferably in
some parallel universe) just so that the world
could see that they have nothing to offer but hot
air and insults. Talk is cheap, but putting
forward real policy, and accepting responsibility
for the outcome in the topsy-turvy real world,
would be several steps beyond their thinking capacity.
@Headless, probably they said Hitler would never get
the power…
Sorry guys, I couldn’t resist going for a full house on the “Recent Comments” section.
Tesco/Tescoe has come in for a hammering recently and rightly so! Its standards have dropped lower than a Siofok whore’s knickers.
CBA recently opened a store near where I live…if you think Tesco is bad – come shop at my local
magyar üzletlánc. Black bananas, brown cucumbers,
disintegrated tomatoes; canned products like peas, and beans resemble cannon fodder. And things in jars that float around reminiscent of gynecological matter. All at exorbitant prices that only appeal to the late-night shopping halfwits.
@PickedOnion, you have the truth. CBA makes Tesco
look like shopping paradise. My local CBA regularly
fails to reorder stock in time and has empty
shelves. The Hungarians probably like that because
they keep shopping there – I guess its a kind of
nostalgia for the old days.
Me, I’m an Aldi man when it comes to supermarkets.
Any retailer that can scan the goods faster than I
can throw them back into the trolley has my vote.
I believe that stuff that floats in jars like gynecological matter may be some kind of Savanyuság.
Anyway, I expect it tastes the same.
Jees you guys have conjured up some pretty revolting imagery. The only thing worse is knowing that it is true.
Also, I think you have a point about stock ordering. Any UK Tesco would be mortified to see weeks of empty shelves for some products. Here it almost seems like they find it comforting.
What makes me laugh even more is that some of the tinned stuff is canned in the UK. They would go out of business in a day if they tried to put this quality of product on UK shelves but here they just charge you double.
I have never seen such overpriced rubbish as I do in supermarkets here in general. My issue with Tesco’s in particular is that there is no excuse, they DO know better.
Well it may be that Tesco knows exactly what they
are doing.
I always bought a giant bag of CBA’s own cornflakes.
Reasonably priced and the quality was good.
Recently CBA decided to put the cornflakes in some new, very-impressive-looking packaging.
Guess what has happened to the contents..?
The flakes now taste like a Turkish wrestler’s
jockstrap. And, interestingly enough, they have suddenly disappeared and been replaced by another brand which I buy because they are very scrumptious
and, “the price is right”! Reggeli..er, I mean Really. It’s true.
E.J. Thribb (12-years-old)