EconomyFinancialLa Comer bets on more digital stores

La Comer bets on more digital stores

The pandemic has made it clear that having an omnichannel strategy that optimizes the shopping experience is key to improving customer service and increasing consumer confidence. And it is the strategy that La Comer follows. The Mexican supermarket chain is determined to strengthen its contact points and its plan for this year is to promote La Comer en tu Casa, its e-commerce platform.

Rogelio Garza, director of administration and finances of the retailer, explains that this includes improving the operating processes to meet demand, optimize the delivery time of orders and that there is a 100% supply of the products that consumers order. through the website.

Last year, La Comer achieved that this metric was 80%, so far this year the percentage has grown to 90%. As for the lack of products in the purchases already made, Garza details that in 2020 they had a record of 12% and has managed to reduce this percentage by half, while the satisfaction index on the internet went from 3.5 stars to 4.5.

For Garza, since COVID-19 arrived, the challenges in the operation have not ceased. “We test small some concepts and, if they work, we extend them to all stores. We cannot afford to invest in projects that turn out to be unprofitable, ”says the manager.

This happened when the retailer expanded its delivery methods for online purchases. Before providing spaces in all the parking lots of physical stores for consumers to pick up their order, he tested whether it was feasible. In the end, he did designate special locations for deliveries, without the need for drivers to get out of their car.

“It’s easy to say, but many operating processes have to be adjusted to work well, so that customer satisfaction is at the level of what you expect and you don’t spend ten minutes in your car when you receive your order,” explains Garza. .

Now, La Comer wants to test the effectiveness of a dark store next to one of its physical stores, that is, to set up a warehouse of up to 500 square meters to improve its delivery times for online orders.

Another bet of La Comer is in the opening of physical stores. This year, the idea is to open six to eight new units, three of them points of sale that were planned for 2020, but due to the pandemic they had to keep the curtain closed for longer.

“We were always convinced that we had to continue with our expansion plan. Circumstances made it impossible to continue, ”says Garza. Even so, La Comer managed to open two of six stores planned last year, a Fresko in Querétaro, with a total investment of 323 million pesos (mp), and a La Comer format in Aguascalientes, which required a total investment of 281 million pesos . “One way to generate greater value for both shareholders and customers is to open new locations,” says the CFO.

The chain has 72 stores that operate in four formats: City Market, Fresko, La Comer and Sumesa. Garza believes that it is still too early to talk about growth expectations at the end of the year, however, concentrating on e-commerce and store openings is a formula that has so far yielded good results.

Comer closed 2020 with annual revenues of $ 27,020 million pesos, while its net profit grew 41.6%, to 1,467 million pesos. And in the first quarter of 2021, its income amounted to 6,613 million pesos, although its net profit fell 12.5%, to 375 million pesos, according to its reports sent to the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV).

“This year it is still too uncertain. We are having extraordinary expenses for the sanitation of the stores and other operating expenses. In a reasonable scenario, if the pandemic normalizes, we would think that the results of the company would have a marginal growth, “he says.

Leandro Laporta, from the digital services company Orange Business Services, reiterates that retail has always been an industry full of challenges, but COVID-19 has underlined them. Current market conditions, combined with changing customer expectations, require accelerating digital transformation and innovation of traditional business models.

Customers, he says, expect digital experiences that go beyond shopping. And on this path, before investing in an omnichannel strategy, retailers must focus on what matters most to consumers, regardless of the channel they choose, because there is a world of possibilities.

In addition to opening stores or betting on e-commerce, it is possible to improve the shopping experience in the physical store with interactive kiosks, touch tables and digital screens that boost consumer participation. “Many retailers continue to manage their online and physical sales channels separately. You need to work with integration tools to map customers and unify all your sales channels, order management, payment processing, loyalty programs, delivery options and more, both in and out of the store. This will allow them to offer the true omnichannel experiences that their customers expect ”, concludes the specialist.

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