Department and self-service stores started the year on the right foot and stores with more than a year open –or same stores– grew their sales 20.6% during January, according to data from the National Association of Self-Service and Department Stores ( ANTAD). However, growth against pre-pandemic levels remained flat.
In the total stores, which are the units that opened their doors in the last 12 months, the increase in sales in January was 23.1%, compared to the same month of the same year.
“It is important to highlight that the percentage growth this month is high, as a consequence of the arithmetic effect of measuring against a low comparison base in January 2021, derived from the fact that a year ago several department stores and specialized stores remained closed,” said the association in a statement.
The chains associated with ANTAD, among which are Sanborns, Soriana, La Comer and Liverpool, in the first month of the year accumulated sales of 107.4 billion pesos. This figure is already very close to that of January 2020, when there were still no reports of COVID-19 in Mexico.
In this first month of the year, department and self-service stores faced challenges, among them, the rise in prices due to inflation, which in the country has led to a rise in prices that keeps buyers cautious.
“Inflation and problems with supply chains have made products more expensive and have slowed down this recovery for department stores and we continue to see complications towards 2022 due to all economic factors,” says Humberto Calzada, chief economist for Rankia Latin America.
Despite this, they managed to maintain a good inertia in their sales. Even those that do not belong to ANTAD, as is the case with Walmart, have also maintained a boost in sales since 2021. During the third quarter of 2021, Walmart’s revenues grew 6.4%, to 176,042 million pesos.
At the end of 2021, the commercial chains that make up ANTAD group together more than 46 thousand stores. The total sales area of these establishments amounts to more than 21 million square metres.
What to expect in 2022?
After the results of the first month of the year were announced, companies in the sector feel optimistic: everything indicates that they will be able to maintain a stable rate similar to that of 2021, even with the inflationary challenge and the shortage of some products. Department and specialty stores have an even better picture.
While self-service stores had benefited from panic buying in 2020, and that high base of comparison meant that double-digit figures stabilized throughout 2021; the departmental ones have just begun to recover.
In the third quarter of the year, the commercial income of El Puerto de Liverpool, which also owns the Suburbia stores, increased 8.7% against 2019. Sales of stores with more than a year of operation in Liverpool grew 9.2% with respect to the same quarter of 2019, according to the data of its last financial statement.
At a consolidated level, that is, from January to September 2021 -which is the latest data available-, the group’s income grew 38.9%, adding 94,953 million pesos from 68,384 million pesos in the same period of 2020. Compared to 2019 , when they invoiced 93,278 million pesos, the increase is 1.8%.
Grupo Sanborns, which includes Sears, Sanborns, iShop and Mixup stores, reported sales of 34,690 million pesos between January and September 2021, which compared to 24,635 million in the same period of 2020, represented an increase of 40.8%. Compared to 35,518 million pesos in 2019, the decrease is 2.3%.
Palacio de Hierro is in a position similar to that of Carlos Slim’s stores. The departmental one, and despite the fact that in the third quarter it registered commercial income grew 32% compared to 2020; and 15.5% compared to 2019, in the accumulated figure for the year, there was still a gap to close compared to the 2019 figures.
The Bailléres family company invoiced 23,095 million pesos in the first nine months of the year, which meant an advance of 44% compared to 2020, The gap compared to the same period of 2019 was short, only 2% below the 23,560 million of pesos in sales.
