As expected, with inflation running above 20% monthly, sales in large stores plummeted in January, especially in the less essential product categories.
Faced with this scenario, supermarket chains intensified
the implementation of promotions or actions to mitigate the drop in their turnover.
The French Carrefour, for example, presented a new mobile application, “to improve the experience,
offer greater savings and expand the range of benefits
,” the chain explained.
This platform was developed from a survey in which more than 15 thousand clients participated, proposing and choosing the most useful functionalities.
The application allows you to select a favorite product of the month
to receive special discounts
.
In addition, users receive personalized benefits based on their consumer habits to use at any branch or for online purchases.
They can also maximize their savings
by finding out about new promotions 24 hours before they are published.
With the move, a price scanner
is incorporated
to maximize the in-person experience and also make inquiries 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 supermarkets, Alejandro Arruiz, general manager of Supermarkets for Argentina commented: “In addition to the promotions that we do regularly, we added
a transversal campaign to the three brands with promos of “convenient prices”.
This is a basket of
200 products with the best market price.
"
We show the consumer the best economic option in each of the categories," explains the manager, adding that "they are doing well" with the initiative. "
We are pulling out all the promotional weapons to alleviate the crisis and the drop in consumption what there is”,
he summarized.
According to the consulting firm Scentia, which monitors all outlets for mass consumption, in January
sales in supermarkets fell on average 8.3%
, a behavior that was even between the points of sale of AMBA and the Interior of the country.
The products that fell the most were alcoholic beverages (17.3%) and clothing and home cleaning products (12.1%).
In December 2023, despite the fact that inflation was higher than in January, climbing to 25.5%, the inertia of Christmas shopping sustained consumption, which closed in positive numbers.
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,
managed to break the positive trend.
In chains, the drop was more abrupt 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.
In tune with the rest of the supermarkets, also GDN Argentina, the controlling company of the brands
Híper ChangoMâs, ChangoMâs, Super ChangoMâs, Punto Mayorista and MâsOnline
, presented a new virtual communication channel (ChatBot) to facilitate the exchange with its customers.
This new tool, called “ToMâs”.
allows you to speed up responses and queries, 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 current promotions, among other queries that the consumer may require.
"In addition, it was designed to resolve doubts and provide instant information about services, assortment and store addresses," commented a source linked to the company.