Big retailers have seen a surge in business in the last 24 hours after the Government allowed essential items such as heaters, blankets, and whiteware to be sold online.
The Warehouse says essentials that have proven popular include “baby care items, appliances, personal hygiene essentials, home cleaning supplies, kitchen essentials and laundry detergent”.
Noel Leeming also opened last night and a lot of “home office consumables” including ink, paper, headphones, printers and cables were sold.
While the Government has said essential items include key household appliances and goods that keep people warm, Retail NZ told 1 NEWS there is still some confusion on what can be sold.
“MBIE has been saying retailers need to make their own decision about what constitutes as an essential good, taking into account the criteria,” said chief executive Greg Harford.
“But really there does need to bit a bit more clarity coming out of the government on that and I've been trying to engage with officials this morning.”
He said in particular there are questions around what type of clothing can be sold.
Briscoes says it has had a lot of calls from customers wondering what items were for sale, and it’s lobbying the Government to add more items to the essential list.
Freightway Group which owns NZ Couriers says the number of items shipped around the country has dropped by 65 percent in the last few days, but it expects this to lift as people start to buy more.
NZ Posts told 1 NEWS it’s had a similar experience, with lower volumes than expected for this time of year, and it’s got plenty of capacity to cope with an increase of deliveries.
All deliveries are being made contactless and retailers say they’re following safety rules, such as wearing gloves and staying two metres apart in their warehouses.
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