No “bazooka” for retailers: “Fear is now always with you”


Prolonged lockdown and the increased use of the “emergency brake” at seven-day incidence values ​​over 100 – the resolutions of the federal-state summit are causing criticism among retailers. “The federal and state governments only operate in tunnel mode,” says Stefan Genth from the trade association. “The sole fixation on the corona incidence values ​​does not do justice to the complex situation.”

Above all, the shops that do not sell groceries and everyday products and were only able to reopen them to date customers two weeks ago with “Click & Meet” are concerned about the threat of tightening with a seven-day incidence value of over 100. In Düsseldorf, too, retailers expect to have to suspend “Click & Meet” again soon. “Capital” has that Shareholder of the Düsseldorf-based jimmy + jo GmbH, Markus Schmidt, asked how his company is doing. His company sells exclusive women’s fashion and high-quality decorative products at two locations. Due to the corona, only one of the two branches was recently open.

Almost exactly a year ago Germany went into the first lockdown. How has jimmy + jo fared since then?

Markus Schmidt: The last year was very exhausting. Even before the lockdown began, the federal government said: stay at home! As a result, we hardly had any customer traffic even before the lockdown. At the beginning we thought it was actually good that it was closed and that the companies that got into trouble should be helped. The emergency aid also reached us back then. But when it was relaxed again, the reluctance of customers and the uncertainty were extremely extreme. As an owner-managed retailer, we have therefore seen our responsibility and – without anyone having to tell us – we have made sure that we have Plexiglas walls, customers can wash their hands and the cabins are disinfected. So we dealt with the pandemic very well without our being patronized or anyone making the decisions for us.

How has the pandemic affected jimmy + jo’s business?

Our regular customers, who make up around 80 percent of our clientele, have remained loyal to us. However, because we are purely stationary and do not operate an online shop, we did not have any business operations for four months during the entire period of the pandemic. The short-term closings on December 16 were also exhausting. Because business was off to a good start in December and we thought the shops would stay open, we ordered a lot of seasonal goods again. The goods were delivered on December 15th – and on December 16th we closed the shop.

What does that do to the mood in the workforce?

That gets on my nerves. We have outsourced many areas because this cost structure remains in administration. The mood is depressed because you don’t know what to do next. Fortunately, we have been able to stay afloat so far. We also try to keep the mood from spilling over to the employees, but as entrepreneurs we are crawling on our gums.

How have you stayed afloat during the crisis so far?

We have been really modest in the past few months. At the end of January at the beginning of February, when the third bridging aid was still not there, we were faced with the question: shall we continue or not? We decided to keep going because we enjoy doing our job. We were able to maintain business operations thanks to good business practices and private reserves. Even without the cooperation with our suppliers, we would no longer exist. Because the spring collection is delivered in December and January and then has to be paid for in 30 days – this is not possible without sales. However, our suppliers have agreed to send us the goods when we reopen. So we were lucky that the goods were only delivered in the past few weeks. But if Bridging Aid III doesn’t come next week, then we can’t go on. Then I won’t have anyone left to talk to, then we’ll be gone. Then confidence in politics is gone.

In what way?

We have been waiting for Bridging Aid II since November, we have been waiting for Bridging Aid III since December and January. There is a lot of talk about the bazooka – but nothing happens. Nobody feels responsible, I have the feeling. Also, none of my colleagues has received the promised support so far. Neither the restaurateurs across the street from me, nor the colleagues in retail that I know.

With Click & Meet, business was recently able to start up again in parts. How has the offer at jimmy + jo been used?

We were very surprised by this step, we had only expected it on March 28th and suddenly it was March 8th. Shortly before, the mood was euphoric. Every day that we were open and had appointments, one hoped again: Hopefully it will continue like this. Then we were open for seven days in a row and had customer appointments from morning to evening and great sales. Then we hoped: Hopefully it will continue like this next week. This is also noticeable in sales. Compared to 2019, the time before the crisis, the sales with the concept that we started last year and with which we are now continuing are better than in 2019. We also had more new customers, especially young customers between the ages of 16 and late 20. The fear now always goes along with whether the customers will come. In the meantime, however, I think the customers will continue to come and we also communicate that they can continue to come.

Why haven’t you opted for online shopping or Click & Collect up to now?

If I have an online shop, I don’t have the same dress ten times. So when I send a dress it is no longer on sale and then maybe come back later because it doesn’t fit. This is an incredible amount of work and ultimately does not help. Click & Collect is also not an option for us. I can’t sell a dress for 500 euros out the window, it has to be tried on. If you say that we position ourselves as stationary retail that conveys an experience and personality – and clothing is a piece of personality – then that doesn’t make any sense. For small boutiques, doing business online just isn’t profitable. I see this again and again with my colleagues, who say: If I hadn’t done that, it would only be work and trouble! Shopping online is a killer for the retail sector, which is advice-intensive and where things need to be tried on.

How do you see the next few weeks?

We decided on Click & Meet early on so that our customers would not be confused. We’ll keep that up and hold out for the whole year. It’s a consistent line that can be communicated. And if politics cannot do that, then we have to do it ourselves. We just want to convey a good feeling in retail again – and we want to continue. But as I said: If the bridging aid III does not come in the next week, everything will have gone up in smoke.

Christiane Kreder spoke to Markus Schmidt

The interview was published on March 24th at Capital.de

The pandemic has destroyed the life’s work of thousands of entrepreneurs, destroyed and newly created assets on the stock exchanges, made millions of jobs unsafe and shook Germany’s solid state finances. Amongst other things. One year after the start of the previously unthinkable, a state-ordered shutdown of large parts of the economy, ntv.de draws a balance in the spotlights. Episode seven: Companies still worry about the offspring.

The previous episodes of “One year of the economy in shutdown”:

  1. From stock market crash to soaring
  2. Only a mountain of debt remains of the lifelong dream
  3. Last hope online shop
  4. In the waiting “hell” of Corona aid
  5. Corona brings back inflation.

  6. The pandemic throws back the turnaround in traffic

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