In the midst of a consumer crisis, a new supermarket chain has just landed in Capital. It is Libertad, from the French group Casino, which opened this Thursday a 1,800 square meter store inside the Dot Baires shopping center under the Market Fresh brand. In this way the company historic rival of first cousin Carrefourwill try to install the consumption of fresh products (butchers, meats, pastries, vegetables, fruits, takeaway meals and a wide range of alcoholic beverages) among locals, a very popular concept in Europe and the United States.
Libertad arrived in the country in 1998. Based mainly in Córdoba, with this new opening it now has 35 outlets (14 hypermarkets, 10 convenience stores and 10 wholesale branches) distributed in 10 central-northern provinces of the country. It also has 14 shopping centers and malls, a business model known as multi-format, very similar to that of Cencosud. It is the seventh highest billing chain in Argentina, in a ranking led by Carrefour, Cencosud (Jumbo, Disco and Vea), Coto and Changomás.
“The choice of Dot Baires has to do with the high visibility and anchoring of a mall like Dot Baires,” he explained to clarion Ramón Quagliata, CEO of the company. The top executive underlined that new openings are being studied at Amba, “but that it will depend on audience response to the format and general economic developments“. The first Market Fresh was installed with singular success in Punta del Este, Uruguay, and was later introduced to the country as an annex to some of its hypermarkets. Libertad ahora You want to test it independently.
“We wanted to get to Buenos Aires with something new and original“, Qaugliata told at the inaugural event. The format is inspired by the old European markets (such as that of the Boqueriasfrom Barcelona, o Sinigaglia Fairin Milan) and in the “traditional food halls of New York, including the very famous Chelsea Market”, says Diego Sabat, director of Institutional Relations at Libertad.
The arrival of the new chain has generated expectations within the supermarket. In the sector they had on the agenda the incursion of a competitor in the Capital, one of the neighborhoods with the highest consumption. The most surprising thing is the irruption of a format that focuses almost exclusively on the sale of fresh products, roast meats, bakery products and gourmet drinks, an offer completed by packaged pasta, dried pasta and fast food. “We also have the famous cuts of meat from the Fair Prices programme,” they clarified.
The choice of Dot Baires for the brand new branch has its own logic. The complex, one of the real estate developments of the IRSA group, has a shopping center and several office buildings at its core. The complex has several office buildings, including those of Mercado Libre, General Electric and those that were occupied by the former Falabella headquarters, where more than 6,000 employees workMostly high income. Hence the idea of also offering “fresh dishes prepared on the spot to be eaten on site or to take away”.
According to Libertad, it is mainly an ABC1 audience and under the age of 45. Today 130 employees work at the Fresh Market. It has gondolas, shelves and refrigerators sorted by category. There, basic consumer goods such as bread, tomatoes, lettuce, fruit and jams coexist with high-end spices, wines and champagnes. In the latter category, you can find prices ranging from $1,200 to $50,000. However, the intention of the chain is to first conquer the sectors with the highest purchasing power, in order to then spread both the brand and the business model.
Born in 1898, the Casino group has more than 12,000 points of sale worldwide (from supermarkets to shopping malls), has 220,000 employees and operates in its country of origin, where it competes with Carrefour, world leader in the large-scale consumer business, Latin America ( it is present in Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina) and in some Asian countries, including Thailand and Vietnam.
Source: Clarin
