As expected, with monthly inflation above 20%, sales at large stores plummeted in January, especially in less essential product categories. Faced with this scenario, supermarket chains have stepped up implementing promotions or actions to mitigate the decline in your turnover.
The French Carrefour, for example, presented a new mobile application, “to improve the experience, offer greater savings and broaden the range of benefits”, they explained in the chain. This platform was born from a survey in which more than 15 thousand customers participated, proposing and choosing the most useful features.
The application allows you to select your favorite product of the month to receive special discounts. Furthermore, users receive personalized benefits based on their consumption habits to use in any branch or for online purchases. They can also maximize their savings learn about new promotions 24 hours before their publication.
With the move, he joins a price scanner to maximize the in-person experience and also conduct consultations from anywhere. On the other hand, “the platform facilitates the management of digital tickets and allows the customer to integrate with the Mi Carrefour Card app to speed up payments”, comments Candela Arias, co-executive director of Carrefour Argentina.
Asked about the initiatives of Cencosud, the Chilean group that controls the Jumbo Disco and Vea superstores, Alejandro Arruiz, general manager of Supermarkets for Argentina, commented: “In addition to the promotions we do regularly, we add a transversal campaign across the three brands with “affordable price” promotions. It’s a basket of 200 products at the best market price. “We show the consumer the best economical option in each of the categories,” explains the manager, adding that “they are doing well” with the initiative. ““We are using all our promotional weapons to alleviate the crisis and the decline in consumption that exists”, summary.
This was claimed by the consultancy firm Scentia, which monitors all points of mass consumption, in January Supermarket sales fell by an average of 8.3%, similar behavior between AMBA outlets and within the country. The products that recorded the greatest decline were alcoholic beverages (17.3%) and clothing and household cleaning products (12.1%).
In December 2023, although inflation was higher than that of January, rising to 25.5%, the inertia of Christmas shopping supported consumption, which closed in positive territory. However, the devaluation at the end of December, the liberalization of prices and the cancellation of the Care Prices program, among other measures taken by the current management, They managed to interrupt the positive trend. In chains the decline was sharper than in self-service stores. In neighborhood stores, consumers always return to consumption when their purchasing capacity is reduced, since there they acquire the minimum inputs for daily consumption if they cannot stock up.
GDN Argentina, parent company of the brands, is also in line with the rest of the supermarkets Híper ChangoMâs, ChangoMâs, Super ChangoMâs, Punto Mayorista and MâsOnline, presented a new virtual communication channel (ChatBot) to facilitate exchanges with its customers. This new tool, called “ToMâs”. allows you to speed up answers and questions, via WhatsApp, from anywhere in the country 24 hours a day.
The ChatBot offers assistance to all customers of these chains through a WhatsApp line on topics such as branch hours, commercial dynamics and ongoing promotions, among other questions that the consumer may ask. “Furthermore, it is designed to resolve doubts and provide immediate information on services, assortment and store addresses,” commented a source connected to the company.
Source: Clarin
