Carrefour Brasil's ecommerce triples; coronavirus costs may cause troubles

However the cost of new hiring and other measures to cope with the pandemic may offset those gains, Yahoo Finance reports. So far, about 3,000 employees have been put on paid leave including members of ‘at-risk’ groups such as senior citizens and pregnant women and those showing symptoms of COVID-19.

Since the pandemic hit Brasil, the retailer has hired 4,000 temporary workers and plans to add a further 1,000. Carrefour Brasil employs approximately 86,000 people in the country. Besides taking its employees' temperature on a daily basis, the retailer is now doing the same for customers entering stores, the only food retailer in Latin America's economy to take such a step.

Moreover, as food prices have soared despite overall inflation falling to a quarter-century low, Brasil’s Carrefour has also stepped up negotiations with suppliers to avoid shortages and price hikes for 200 in-house products until 3 June. Online grocery demand was already accelerating in late 2019 before the coronavirus crisis, with Carrefour Brasil in February seeing a 40% rise in Q4 online sales, with ecommerce food sales jumping more than fivefold.