EconomyFinancialWalmart takes BAIT, its virtual mobile operator, to Superama...

Walmart takes BAIT, its virtual mobile operator, to Superama and Sam's Club

One year after the launch of BAIT (Bodega Aurrera, Internet y Telefonía), Walmart’s virtual mobile operator, the self-service chain announced the expansion of the telephone service to all its formats. Now, in addition to Bodega Aurrera and Walmart, it will be available at Walmart Express, Superama and Sam’s Club stores. This decision, says the retailer, is made because customers have responded positively to the telecom offer.

“We decided that our service, which today has national coverage, is available in all formats of our more than 2,600 stores,” explains Beatriz Núñez, vice president of growth for Walmart de México y Centroamérica. “The customer responded positively, even more than we expected.”

The executive mentions that the speed of navigation and low costs is what has made BAIT attractive, so much so that today it already has more than 700,000 registered clients, according to data from the company itself. For this reason, the supermarket chain decided to streamline its long-term strategy and shorten the execution time of the work plans.

“The plans we had for five years, which was the time we had established for our goals, we accelerated to happen in two or three years precisely because of the positive response from customers,” adds the directive.

Telecommunications sector analysts have doubts about how attractive BAIT will be in formats such as Superama and Sam’s Club, which are regularly frequented by users who spend more on mobile telephony and are traditionally associated with traditional operators.

“One thing is the prepaid user for which they are competing through Bodega Aurrera and Walmart and another is the user of Sam’s Club and Superama, which usually has a higher purchasing power, which is usually postpaid and whose parameter of The choice is not only based on the rate ”, says Rolando Alamilla, market research manager at The CIU.

The consultant’s analyst says that the entry of the OMV to the new formats may not have the same effect that it has had on Bodega Aurrera and Walmart.

Erick de la Cruz, Select manager, agrees with this, but adds that the company must take advantage of the incursion into these new stores to meet its objective of continuing to capture market, and not precisely in the telephony segment because it is not viable to compete directly with the traditional operators.

“It will be a test to take advantage of the advantages that the company has of being a solid distribution channel, well studied and with the option of continuing to keep captive customers through this offer that becomes attractive due to its plan and its cost (…) it will help generate more traffic in its stores and retain customers ”, mentions the specialist.

Beatriz Núñez shares that BAIT has unlimited connectivity service, voice data and SMS for 50 pesos a week, that is, 200 pesos a month. There is also the option of home internet service with a capacity of up to 120 GB per month, which can be purchased by buying a modem at any establishment in the supermarket chain and inserting the OMV chip.

In Walmart’s business model, users can get free megabytes every time they make a purchase. This way of rewarding them is what, according to Rolando Alamilla, has allowed the virtual mobile operator to grow in the market, as it is rewarding the customer’s preference, something that traditional operators do not do.

“This differentiation is being the key to growth, they are exploiting areas of opportunity that the traditional ones do not see, that is why MVNOs in general are growing exponentially”, says the analyst at The CIU. “His proper approach and knowledge, combined with an outlier year like 2020, increased the segment.”

According to the consulting firm, MVNOs closed the first quarter of the year with 3.9 million users, a figure 69% higher than that registered in the same period of 2020.

The power of BAIT

Walmart’s virtual mobile operator is not the only one under the shelter of a supermarket, there is also Soriana Móvil which, despite having a presence in the market since 2017, has not managed to rebound like that of its competition.

For Erick de la Cruz, the main drawback is the lack of publicity. “There is a greater promotion of Walmart, in the market there is not enough diffusion for the OMV of Soriana and that reduces its options to grow,” he says. But it also has to do with the partner with whom it started operations in the country. “Maxcom has had ups and downs in the market, which has led it to rethink its business model, this has affected the virtual mobile operator.”

In 2019, the telecommunications company filed for bankruptcy protection under US law (for the second time in six years) to restructure its debt. A year later, he received from the Tax Administration Service (SAT) a notice of liquidation in which he claimed a payment of taxes corresponding to 2015 for an amount of 631 million pesos.

“Walmart has been able to capitalize on what Soriana has not, its business focus is very well established. For now we do not see Soriana take off because it lacks more communication with users so that they know about this MVNO. But Walmart is doing it well, it is one of the most important companies in the country and it will undoubtedly pay a greater number of users to its offer ”, affirms Alamilla.

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