Nutella maker Ferrero has issued a statement saying that last week’s chaotic scenes at Intermarché supermarkets throughout France were a result of the retailer’s discounting strategy, and not its own promotional approach.
Police were called to a number of stores across France, after Intermarché cut the price of a jar of Nutella from €4.50 to €1.40.
Several stores reported queues forming ahead of opening their doors, while there were also several injuries as a result of the ensuing melee.
"They are like animals. A woman had her hair pulled, an elderly lady took a box on her head, another had a bloody hand," the BBC reported one customer as saying.
As one Twitter user put it, “Serieux ??!! Tout ça pour du Nutella ?!” (“Serious ?? !! All this for Nutella ?!”).
Serieux ??!! Tout ça pour du Nutella ?! ? #Emeute #Nutella pic.twitter.com/UoNTmK78eE
— •KENNY LE BON• (@kennyLebon) January 25, 2018
Ferrero Statement
‘With regard to the Nutella promotional operation underway in the Intermarché Group stores […] Ferrero wishes to state that this promotion was decided unilaterally by the brand Intermarché’, a statement by the producer said.
The statement went on to say that Ferrero ‘deplores’ this promotional strategy, adding that its consequences ‘create confusion and disappointment in the minds of consumers’.
Ferrero also issued a statement last week to indicate that ‘false information’ had been issued on the withdrawal of 625,000 jars of Nutella, adding that this new was spread by a website ’specialising on hoaxes’.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
