Covid 19 coronavirus: Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Easter eggs could go to waste

Today Prime Minister Ardern responded to children asking about visits from the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy during coronavirus lockdown.

Retail NZ says hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Easter eggs sitting on the shelves of closed stores will go to waste this year.

The retailer membership organisation said there was a wide range of department stores, hardware stores and all sorts of novelty retailers who have Easter stock but are unable to sell it on due to the alert level 4 lockdown restrictions.

These businesses were also unable to sell them online as Easter eggs and confectionery do not fall under the essential items criteria.

Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford said he had raised the issue with officials at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to no avail.

"I had a response that said they would look into it, but nothing more."

Supermarkets and dairies can only sell Easter goods this year. Photo / Getty Images

With just one day until the start of the Easter long weekend, retailers would have missed the opportunity to sell their Easter stock, and at full price, Harford said.

"There's concerns about missed opportunity, but also the food waste that will result from this. There's a lot of confectionery product there that will be worth substantially less after Easter, and that product could be completely worthless by the time the lockdown is lifted."

The Warehouse, which each year has a large Easter chocolate range, this week decided to donate all of its Easter confectionery to charity, this was following initial reports that it hoped to sell the goods after lockdown. Its staff were also told to take Easter eggs home ahead of the lockdown.

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The Red Shed retailer has donated more than 200,000 Easter eggs to Women's Refuge and KiwiHarvest, which will work with other organisations to be distributed along with other essential items, through several charities including the Salvation Army, Auckland City Mission, the Volunteer Student Army, Whanau Ora and several iwi organisations.

Pejman Okhovat, chief executive of the Warehouse, said some Easter stock had been kept to sell afterwards. He said the retailer had made some sales of Easter goods ahead of the lockdown.

"Following the Prime Minister's announcement that the Easter Bunny is an 'essential service' - the least we could do is help to bring a smile to peoples' faces by ensuring everyone gets a chocolate egg for Easter," Okhovat said.

"The planning for Easter starts almost straight after Easter finishes. We capture customer insights and our team work on what products to bring to our customers for the following year. Easter eggs start to arrive a few weeks before Easter.

"Some customers like to try and be early to buy for Easter, so we had some sales."

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The Government relaxed its restrictions on discretionary goods, so heaters, blankets and warm clothing deemed essential are now able to be bought online.

Retail NZ hoped that Easter goods would have been permitted to be sold online too, as supermarkets and dairies were still able to sell their stock.

Kmart and Crackerjack, retailers that also stock significant ranges of Easter eggs and chocolate, have been contacted for comment.

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The financial impact of Covid-19 on Easter trading would be significant, Harford said.

Harford said Easter spending had been growing year on year for the past five years, with chocolate product ranges growing in size based on consumer demand.

"Easter has always been a very significant shopping time. Over the past 20 years there has been strong growth in the Easter market."

Easter and the increase in spending on confectionery, typically brings more discretionary spending and dining out over the four-day weekend, though this year is expected to take a hit due to the lockdown in a bid to curb the spread of Covid-19, he said.

"The financial impact of Covid-19 on Easter trading this year is going to be that things aren't so good, obviously customers won't be out and about in the shops and cafes, and grocery sales might be impacted a little bit because people normally stock up on Easter Wednesday or Thursday before Good Friday - we're unlikely to see these peaks this year."

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website