It was the queue of the hopeful. How many of them were there? Hundreds. They went in their droves, enticed by the search for "dynamic, committed, enthusiastic" people of a certain (young) age. Such is the recruitment lingo. When did employers ever wish to take on apathetic, uncommitted, unenthusiastic staff? Once upon a time they probably did. A time when no one much cared for anything other than the pay packet regardless of whatever drudgery was performed or expected.
They were queuing in Madrid last October. Hundreds. They weren't after jobs. They were there to buy. In the capital city's Gran Via, Primark had come to town, and Primark shopping fever had taken over. But jobs with Primark were what mattered last week to those who had waited patiently to hand in their pen drives with all relevant information at the offices of the Balearic Confederation of Business Associations.
Primark will open in September and not towards the end June as had been initially said. FAN Mallorca Shopping, the curious name of the new commercial centre, will not be ready until then. For those queuing it might as well rain until September. Then the sun will shine. Assuming they are the lucky ones. And when the doors of the shopping centre finally open, there will be a tidal wave of shoppers. The roads will have been gridlocked. There's more to FAN, much more to FAN than Primark alone, but it will be the Irish retailer attracting the greatest fan base, if the Madrid experience is anything to go by.
The jobs though, what about the jobs? How much might the lucky ones earn? In Madrid the labour agreement was for a "competitive salary package" for the dynamic ones. The typical sales assistant maximum is just over 15,000 a year - twelve months plus three extras. Over half of the staff, however, are not on full-time contracts. One worker, quoted in a report by the "El Confidencial" website, said she was on 700 euros for a 30-hour week, though this seemed to be for a temporary contract.
Retail jobs are like many in the tourism industry. They are not highly paid. The Primark base salary for full-time employees - 15,247 euros per annum (quoted in connection with the Madrid store) - is virtually identical to the agreement Lidl came to earlier this year. It has a guaranteed fixed hourly minimum of 8.50 euros per hour: 15,257 euros for an annual maximum of 1,795 hours, five days a week. Lidl has also agreed to have a 75% minimum of its staff on full-time contracts.
This doesn't match Mercadona, though. It has 98% full-time contracts. Its base salary is 15,160 euros but it adds two extra months to this depending on performance. It also rewards loyalty. Length of service and corresponding increases in salary mean that it has 90% of staff earning 1,430 euros after tax plus the potential two additional months. Mercadona is looked upon as one of the best employers in the retail sector.
The regional government, the Council of Mallorca and the town halls have an at-times awkward relationship with retailing. The current moratorium on new developments is an example of this and is aimed principally at larger retailers. Yet they will all know that these larger retailers create employment and, as can be seen with Mercadona in particular, this is pretty stable employment. It may not be highly paid, but that is how retailing tends to be. Mallorca's no different to anywhere else in this regard.
Where the public authorities really run into a problem is with seeking to safeguard the smaller retailer and defend it against the voracious appetites of the large multiples. A case in point has been the to-ing and fro-ing over declaring (or not) zones of high touristic influx. Say yes, and there is far greater liberalism for large store opening hours. Say no, and there is not.
But generally, and here is where the government and others let slip their begrudging acceptance of the large retailers, there is no antagonism implied when it comes to terms and conditions of employment. Yes, the government keeps banging the drum for greater "quality" of employment and higher earnings, but the retailers fall into the category of the "good" employer. Mercadona is a prime example.
Contrast this with the general antagonism towards the hoteliers, with Podemos the most ferocious of critics. True, there are issues with maids and some other categories of employee, but the attacks are certainly not always justified. The government is toying with the star ratings being modified to reflect this so-called employment quality. But would such an attempt at labour engineering work? Can the hotels really be blamed for offering contracts that are not in the Mercadona league when it comes to being full-time? It's the seasonality, stupid.
Showing posts with label Primark. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Primark. Show all posts
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Friday, January 27, 2012
Are You Being Served? Spanish retailing
Ten years ago I splashed out 1500 euros on a decent digital camera. Having parted with the cash, the camera soon developed a fault. It turned out to have been just one of those things. The replacement was perfectly ok and served me for several years until it was stolen.
There had been no difficulty in obtaining the replacement from the retailer. I explained that there was a fault. There were no questions, there was no examination of the camera, and no quibbling whatsoever. The sales assistant got a new boxed-up camera and handed it over.
The point of this story is that the camera was bought at and then replaced by the main El Corte Inglés department store in Palma. El Corte Inglés doesn't do cheap. But what it does do is quality and service.
Gripes about service in Mallorca are legitimate, but there are many examples which disprove a widely-held belief that service is universally lousy. El Corte Inglés is one, and it is an example from a sector - retail - that is often damned for its unreliable opening hours and apparent lack of interest in the customer.
A while ago I mentioned the fact that it was hard to think of really world-class Spanish businesses. A correspondent referred to a handful which had escaped my attention, one being the Zara fashion store chain. Being strictly accurate, Zara is just a brand; it is one part of a suite of stores that comprise a company called Inditex. And Inditex has something in common with El Corte Inglés; they both feature in the list of the world's top 50 retailers.
The consultants at Deloitte are a busy bunch. They churn out surveys left, right and centre. Coming hard on the heels of one of Spanish travel agents, Deloitte has issued, in collaboration with Stores media, its 2012 "Global Powers of Retailing" survey.
This ranks, in order of sales, the leading 250 retailers across the globe. Dominating the top 30 are US companies - Wal-Mart is way out on its own at number one, but the UK's Tesco is number three in the world - but just under these real powerhouse companies comes a trio of Spanish retailers. El Corte Inglés is at 47, Inditex is at 49, but beating them both, and therefore Spain's leading retailer, is Mercadona, which is ranked at 42. There is only one other Spanish company in the 250, and that is Eroski (98).
It's when the list is broken down according to style of store that Spanish performance becomes more significant. Mercadona can't really compete with fast-moving consumer goods giants like Wal-Mart and Tesco, but El Corte Inglés is the world's fifth largest diversified retailer (beating Marks and Spencer into sixth place) and Inditex is the fifth largest fashion goods retailer.
The growth of Inditex has been impressive, despite economic conditions. It hasn't relied on acquisition but on expansion into new geographic markets. So well has it been doing that it is likely to overtake two well-known US companies, Kohl's and J.C.Penney, and is not so far behind Macy's, the world's number one fashion retailer.
Zara and Inditex's growth is in keeping with the fact that the most profitable of the retail sectors is fashion, but Inditex's success could also be a cause of competition. The Chinese, now developing quality brands but at lower prices, have been moving in, the likes of Mulaya seeking to take on Zara. But as with El Corte Inglés, a reputation for quality is likely to maintain Zara's strong position. However, where Inditex can expand into foreign markets, so can others.
Of UK (Irish) stores that many an expat has expressed a desire to have in Mallorca, Argos and Primark are names that regularly crop up. Argos would find it difficult, and the fact that at number four in the world's list of so-called hardlines and leisure goods retailers is Amazon.com partly explains why it would. Primark would be a different matter. It has already been successful in moving into mainland Spain and as it is also in Gran Canaria, then why not Mallorca? And it's not just the expats who would be thankful for a Primark. There is a Facebook page called "Queremos un Primark en Palma!" ("queremos" being we want) that has over 4,000 likes.
Analysts have identified over 140 cities in 12 countries that could be ripe for a Primark store. If there were more in Spain, and at least one in Mallorca, then Inditex may just have to watch out.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
There had been no difficulty in obtaining the replacement from the retailer. I explained that there was a fault. There were no questions, there was no examination of the camera, and no quibbling whatsoever. The sales assistant got a new boxed-up camera and handed it over.
The point of this story is that the camera was bought at and then replaced by the main El Corte Inglés department store in Palma. El Corte Inglés doesn't do cheap. But what it does do is quality and service.
Gripes about service in Mallorca are legitimate, but there are many examples which disprove a widely-held belief that service is universally lousy. El Corte Inglés is one, and it is an example from a sector - retail - that is often damned for its unreliable opening hours and apparent lack of interest in the customer.
A while ago I mentioned the fact that it was hard to think of really world-class Spanish businesses. A correspondent referred to a handful which had escaped my attention, one being the Zara fashion store chain. Being strictly accurate, Zara is just a brand; it is one part of a suite of stores that comprise a company called Inditex. And Inditex has something in common with El Corte Inglés; they both feature in the list of the world's top 50 retailers.
The consultants at Deloitte are a busy bunch. They churn out surveys left, right and centre. Coming hard on the heels of one of Spanish travel agents, Deloitte has issued, in collaboration with Stores media, its 2012 "Global Powers of Retailing" survey.
This ranks, in order of sales, the leading 250 retailers across the globe. Dominating the top 30 are US companies - Wal-Mart is way out on its own at number one, but the UK's Tesco is number three in the world - but just under these real powerhouse companies comes a trio of Spanish retailers. El Corte Inglés is at 47, Inditex is at 49, but beating them both, and therefore Spain's leading retailer, is Mercadona, which is ranked at 42. There is only one other Spanish company in the 250, and that is Eroski (98).
It's when the list is broken down according to style of store that Spanish performance becomes more significant. Mercadona can't really compete with fast-moving consumer goods giants like Wal-Mart and Tesco, but El Corte Inglés is the world's fifth largest diversified retailer (beating Marks and Spencer into sixth place) and Inditex is the fifth largest fashion goods retailer.
The growth of Inditex has been impressive, despite economic conditions. It hasn't relied on acquisition but on expansion into new geographic markets. So well has it been doing that it is likely to overtake two well-known US companies, Kohl's and J.C.Penney, and is not so far behind Macy's, the world's number one fashion retailer.
Zara and Inditex's growth is in keeping with the fact that the most profitable of the retail sectors is fashion, but Inditex's success could also be a cause of competition. The Chinese, now developing quality brands but at lower prices, have been moving in, the likes of Mulaya seeking to take on Zara. But as with El Corte Inglés, a reputation for quality is likely to maintain Zara's strong position. However, where Inditex can expand into foreign markets, so can others.
Of UK (Irish) stores that many an expat has expressed a desire to have in Mallorca, Argos and Primark are names that regularly crop up. Argos would find it difficult, and the fact that at number four in the world's list of so-called hardlines and leisure goods retailers is Amazon.com partly explains why it would. Primark would be a different matter. It has already been successful in moving into mainland Spain and as it is also in Gran Canaria, then why not Mallorca? And it's not just the expats who would be thankful for a Primark. There is a Facebook page called "Queremos un Primark en Palma!" ("queremos" being we want) that has over 4,000 likes.
Analysts have identified over 140 cities in 12 countries that could be ripe for a Primark store. If there were more in Spain, and at least one in Mallorca, then Inditex may just have to watch out.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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