According to reports, after the Spring Festival, Tingyi has reached a consensus with Carrefour regarding their previous conflict. Both parties have taken practical actions to resolve the conflict, and Tingyi instant noodles have been gradually restocked in Carrefour supermarkets nationwide.
A reporter learned yesterday that the zero-supply dispute between Tingyi and Carrefour, which lasted for three months, has recently reached a consensus. Both parties have quietly reconciled, and some of Tingyi's instant noodles that were previously removed from shelves are now being restocked in Carrefour supermarkets.
Tingyi Quietly Returns
Yesterday, at the Carrefour Guozhan store, the reporter saw that Tingyi instant noodles, which had been out of stock for a long time, have now been fully restocked. The variety of cup noodles and packaged noodles is abundant. Tingyi has restored its position as the leader in the instant noodle market and has once again become the main product on the instant noodle shelves.
Regarding the restocking of Tingyi instant noodles in Carrefour supermarkets, the reporter separately contacted both Carrefour and Tingyi companies yesterday.
Both Parties Prefer to Keep Low Profile
Tingyi stated that after the Spring Festival, they have reached a consensus with Carrefour regarding their previous conflict. Both parties have resolved the conflict through practical actions, and Tingyi instant noodles have been gradually restocked in Carrefour supermarkets nationwide.
"Both parties made concessions; after all, both are large enterprises, and it wouldn't be good for either side to continue the standoff," said a relevant person in charge of Tingyi's Beijing office when interviewed by our newspaper yesterday. "We both agree that this matter should be kept low-profile, and we have directly resumed cooperation without making any public statements."
However, regarding the specific details of how both parties reached a consensus through mutual concessions, the person in charge of Tingyi stated yesterday, "The specific details are not convenient to disclose." When asked whether Carrefour agreed to Tingyi's price increase, the person in charge maintained their consistent stance: "The initial conflict was not due to Tingyi's price increase. At that time, Carrefour was selling Tingyi's products at the increased price but demanded the purchase price remain unchanged."
The person in charge stated that currently, both parties have reached a consensus on the price issue.
As of yesterday's press time, Carrefour has not responded to this matter.
The Stock-Out Storm Lasting Three Months Finally Comes to an End
In early December last year, due to differences in interest distribution, the conflict between both parties gradually became publicized. Some products under Tingyi experienced stock-outs in Carrefour stores nationwide.
At that time, Carrefour stated that due to refusing Tingyi's price increase request for instant noodles, they faced a stock-out imposed by Tingyi. The company was negotiating with Tingyi to restore the stock as soon as possible. On the other hand, Tingyi claimed that this controversy was unrelated to product price adjustments, and the "stock-out retaliation" was a misinterpretation.
Subsequently, the "stock-out" storm escalated. Tingyi issued another statement emphasizing that the incident originated from the repeated breaches of integrity principles by the distribution channel (Carrefour), which unreasonably and forcefully requested an increase in sales return rates.
Until the end of December last year, although both parties claimed that negotiations were still ongoing, they remained in a stalemate with no new progress. The stock-out storm between Tingyi and Carrefour had developed into a landmark event in supplier-retailer conflicts.
There were also reports that as of March 2, 2011, the conflict between both parties had not been resolved and was still under negotiation.