Politics & Economics

Online Supermarket Rohlík to be Launched in Germany

Rohlík has announced plans to launch its service in Germany. The expansion was originally planned for 2025 but due to the current high demand for online grocery shopping, the start is brought forward. Rohlík is expected to be launched in Munich by the end of this year. The upcoming launch of Rohlík in Germany means more competition from that other online-only supermarket, Picnic. The Dutch supermarket is active in Germany since March 2018 and is slowly but steadily expanding across the country. The arrival of Rohlík also means more competition for local players, such as Rewe and Edeka. “This is one main target for me”, says Tomáš Čupr, CEO and co-founder of Rohlik. The pure player has only recently been launched in Hungary, which has been the first foreign market for the Czechs. The company also plans to enter the market in Vienna and Bucharest this year. Rohlik is currently active in nine Czech cities where it can deliver within a timeframe of just two hours. Rohlik carries more than 8,000 lines, including fruit & veg. It also works with numerous regional suppliers as well as local bakeries and butchers. The company prides itself on its user-friendliness. Customers can choose...

by Prague Morning Jul 02, 2020

President Zeman Calls ‘Black Lives Matter’ Slogan Racist

Czech President Milos Zeman while visiting the US Ambassador’s residence in Prague on the 244th anniversary of the independence of the United States, said the slogan “Black Lives Matter” is racist.

by Prague Morning Jul 01, 2020

Americans Voting From Prague: Steps for Absentee Voting

Expat Hub is a media for adventure-seeking expats that live in Prague. Join the Expat Hub on Facebook to connect with other expats and be the first one to read articles about life in Prague. For the Eco-conscious, the Facebook group Eco Expat will be the right platform to share your ideas about the Eco-friendly lifestyle and get to know sustainable local businesses that are striving to contribute to Ecology. For non-military American citizens living abroad, voting from Prague requires extra effort. While many countries allow voting at the embassies, the United States uses an absentee mailing system for its citizens abroad. Local election offices manage absentee ballots. Voting is not mandatory for Americans, like it is for Brazilians or Australians, although some consider it a patriotic duty. Midterm elections usually have a dramatic fall in voter turnout, but 2020 is a presidential election year. Americans voting from Prague can request an absentee ballot with a few minutes and perhaps the cost of postage. The August 1st deadline is approaching, so request your ballot as soon as possible. Are You Eligible Voting From Prague? Across all fifty states, American citizens age 18 and older are eligible to vote. Even American citizens who have...

by Prague Morning Jun 26, 2020

“American Rent Prices” in Prague? Increasing Number of Households Cannot Afford Housing Costs

Worse access to homeownership, a shortage of apartments for rent. But also, an economic cooldown, frozen growth of salaries, and inflation. Czech people who don’t live in a home they own will have to prepare for a significant increase in housing costs. This might reach such a degree that Prague could follow the “American rent” scenario – rent which is so high that a family spends most of its income on it. The turning point might arrive mainly at the moment when citizens of Prague stop considering renting as a temporary solution. Even though in recent weeks it might have seemed that prices of rental apartments could be going down, the opposite is more likely. That’s because the current decrease is related to a specific type of real estate and represents a local, and most likely temporary, anomaly. And it won’t depend only on the speed with which mass tourism returns to Prague. This is because the highest number of people to date is looking for rental apartments and the demand is higher than the number of newly vacated apartments; logically, this leads to an increase in price, especially in big cities. Bezrealitky, a portal through which a vast majority...

by Prague Morning Jun 26, 2020

Survey: Czechs Are Learning to Buy Even Basic Consumer Goods Online

Czech people are learning to buy even their basic consumer goods online. E-commerce won’t be returning to its pre-pandemic tracks The ongoing pandemic is motivating both retailers as well as consumers to take advantage of the capacities of e-commerce. The share of e-commerce in the Czech GDP will increase to as much as 2.7%. Companies no longer expect the situation to return to its pre-coronavirus state; shopping online will become the standard even for those types of products that had been bought exclusively in brick-and-mortar stores. Closed shops, restaurants not operating. At first, losing the option to shop in brick-and-mortar stores seemed to represent a significant obstacle for many customers. Fortunately for them, and for many companies as well, the alternative to traditional shopping already existed – and therefore shopping and transactions shifted online on a mass scale. “From the customer’s point of view, this is a completely natural development. Customers have learned to easily procure those commodities which they used to purchase in retail store online. This confirms the fact that e-commerce is fully capable of replacing classic retail services,” says Michal Šejba, the regional manager of the Exactly company. According to Shoptet.cz data, e-commerce related to food, delivery,...

by Prague Morning Jun 23, 2020

Lenin Statue (Made in Czechoslovakia) Unveiled in Western Germany

A divisive new monument to Soviet leader Lenin was unveiled in Germany on Saturday.

by Prague Morning Jun 22, 2020

Czech Republic Ranked 33rd on IMD’s World Competitiveness Index

Czech Republic continues to remain ranked 33rd on an annual World Competitiveness Index compiled by Institute for Management Development (IMD), the international business school said on Tuesday. Singapore has retained its top position on the 63-nation list. Denmark has moved up to the second position (from 8th last year), Switzerland has gained one place to rank 3rd, the Netherlands has retained its 4th place and Hong Kong has slipped to fifth place (from 2nd in 2019). Arturo Bris, Director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center and Professor of Finance, says, “The benefit of small economies in the current crisis comes from their ability to fight a pandemic and from their economic competitiveness. In part these may be fed by the fact it is easy to find social consensus.” Looking for a job in Prague? Visit our new job section! Overall, the latest rankings show a decline for Asia’s key economies, with the region’s biggest economy, China, dropping from last year’s 14th place to 20th this year. Malaysia fell five places to 27th, Thailand fell four places to 29th, Japan fell four places to 34th, and Indonesia fell eight places to 40th. For China, whose economic growth rate fell to a...

by Prague Morning Jun 18, 2020

Russia Expels Two Czech Diplomats

Russia on Monday declared two Czech diplomats persona non grata in a tit-for-tat move to expulsion of Russian diplomats from Czechia. Czech ambassador Vitezslav Pivonka was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry to be notified of reciprocal measures, the ministry said in a statement on its official website. The Czech diplomats must leave Russia with their families within June 17, it added. The ministry said the ambassador was told that Moscow considers the Czech government’s step as “provocative” and “taken without any grounds”. Earlier this month, the Czech Republic expelled two employees of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Prague, who have diplomatic status, claiming that “they were trying to harm the relations of the two countries.” Looking for a job in Prague? Visit our new job section! The Czech move has been associated with recent media reports alleging that a Russian spy had been sent to poison Czech politicians, who ordered to demolish a monument to World War II hero, Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the allegations of poisoning “absurd”, asking why Czech intelligence authorities, mentioned as a source in the reports, would allow a spy to enter the country with poison....

by Prague Morning Jun 15, 2020

Czechs are Learning to Shop Online Even for Consumer Goods. E-Commerce is Bound not to Return to its Original State

The current pandemic motivates retailers and consumers to use the capacities of e-commerce. Its share in the Czech GDP will increase to 2.7%. Companies no longer expect a return to the situation before coronavirus, shopping online will become standard even for goods that were bought exclusively in brick-and-mortar stores. Closed shops, non-operating restaurants. At first, the loss of the opportunity to shop in brick-and-mortar stores seemed to be a significant obstacle for many customers. Fortunately for them, many companies already had an alternative to traditional shopping – and so mass purchases and transactions moved online. “From the customer’s point of view, this is a completely natural development. Customers have learned to easily find online the Commodities they used to shop for in retail stores. The fact that e-commerce is fully capable of replacing classic retail services is thus confirmed, “says Michal Šejba, regional manager of Exactly. According to Shoptet.cz data, e-commerce in the area of food, distribution and other delivery services is growing at an unusual rate, by up to 420%. Internet sales during quarantine are also used by many others. Across industries, the number of newly established e-shops has doubled in recent weeks. “Also for retailers themselves, online business...

by Prague Morning Jun 08, 2020

Czechs Expel Two Russian Diplomats Over Hoax Poison Plot

Two Russian diplomats are being expelled by the Czech government amid a hoax poison plot against three Prague politicians. The government in Prague says infighting between Russian embassy staff resulted in one of them sending details of the fictitious plot to Czech intelligence. In response, the three mayors were initially given police protection. Russia condemned the expulsions as an “unfriendly act”. The expulsion was announced on Friday by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who described the move as “appropriate and adequate”. “We are interested in having good relations with all countries, but we are a sovereign state and such actions are unacceptable on our territory.” He gave no more details about the new information. “The government has offered an explanation, but we still don’t see the full picture,” said Ondřej Kundra of the Czech weekly Respekt, the journalist who broke the original story about the plot. “It’s hard to imagine the government would expel two Russian diplomats just because they said nasty things about each other.” Was there a plot? Details of an apparent plot first emerged in Czech weekly, Respekt, which reported that a Russian agent had travelled to Prague with a suitcase containing the highly potent toxin, ricin....

by Prague Morning Jun 06, 2020

Czech PM Slams EU Recovery Fund ‘Tailor-Made’ For Indebted Members

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis on Wednesday slammed the EU’s massive 750-billion-euro post-virus recovery fund, arguing that it favoured members prone to racking up excessive debt. “The recovery fund criteria are tailor-made for countries which have not been as responsible in terms of debt, budget discipline or unemployment,” Babis told reporters after talks with his Slovak counterpart Igor Matovic in Prague. The EU introduced its “Next Generation” recovery fund last week, but the bloc’s biggest-ever stimulus package immediately triggered criticism from member states inclined to tight spending. In an article in Wednesday’s edition of the broadsheet daily DNES Babis criticised the volume of the fund, the criteria for payments and the fact that it will provide members with loans. DNES is owned by his sprawling Agrofert food, chemicals and media holding. The business mogul-turned-politician also said the EU’s budget for 2021-2027 should not change its parameters because of the fund. Central Europe’s post-communist countries including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia are due to discuss the EU plan on June 11, ahead of a European Council summit on June 19. Matovic said he expected the meeting, to be held in the southeastern Czech town of Lednice, to offer a...

by Prague Morning Jun 03, 2020

Ecommerce & Consumer Landscape in Czech Republic During COVID-19

In today’s overwhelmingly data-driven environment, we get tons of data to look at every day – from the COVID-19 death count to the numbers about businesses that never returned to the market. But for those businesses willing to navigate through the pandemic, there is a different sort of data to look at. Consumer behavior is, probably, one of the biggest areas (except for aviation business, maybe) that’s seeing the highest turbulence and shifts, and that dramatically impacts ecommerce and consumer demand. With the Czech Republic being one of the first-responders to the coronavirus outbreak in Europe, it’s probably one of the most interesting countries to look at in terms of shifts in people’s consumer behavior. And, thus, we can spot early on the changing e-commerce trends. So, after looking at worldwide ecommerce and consumer trends, here at SEMrush, we’ve compiled some CZ-specific data to pinpoint the changes in consumer behavior. These insights are designed to help businesses in their ecommerce practices to best meet the shifted consumer demand. So, be sure to pay attention to! Ecommerce Market & COVID-19 Impact in the Czech Republic With 52% of consumers taking social distancing seriously, it’s not surprising to see more people shopping...

by Prague Morning Jun 02, 2020

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