Virtual sale of food gains relevance for supermarkets

São Paulo-as one of the fastest growing categories in e-commerce, selling foods on the internet is a strong bet for major Brazilian supermarket networks, such as the Sugarloaf, Muffato and probe. Despite this, the high costs and difficulties in the logistics, coupled with customer distrust, inhibit a stronger dissemination in the country.
To the President of the Brazilian Association of Commerce (ABComm), Mauricio Salvador, the sale of these products on the internet is advantageous to the extent that the profitability is higher than the physical stores. "The exhibition of own brand products, for example, may be more active". According to him, this category is the fastest-growing worldwide channel.
In Brazil, this strong expansion is evident in the results of three large retail food companies: Grupo Pão de Açúcar (GPA), Muffato and probe. In all, the category presents two-digit growth rates.
At Sugarloaf, for example, this value is greater than 20%. "In the last two years we realized a very strong increase in this segment. Within the brand, launched in 2012 Extra.com, the spread is even greater, up to 30% per month, "said the DCI Director of e-commerce giant food retailer, Rodrigo Pimentel.
The supermarket chain Muffato experience similar situation, and, from 2011 until 2014 the service showed an average growth of 20% per year, according to the Manager of e-commerce group, Fábio Donadon. "In 2015, due to the unfavorable economic scenario, the growth was a little less, around 10%," he says.
Despite the fast pace, the representativeness of the total segment of the company''s sales is still low, around 1%. This value, however, must go up too, and it is expected that in 2020, from 7% to 10% of all the revenues from the canal. In the probe, the virtual store sales have grown at an average annual rate of 30%.
Logistics difficulty
Even with the strong potential of the segment, which, in the words of Salvador "is only a matter of time to consolidate in Brazil", some operational aspects of the sale of food in Commerce inhibit the entry of more companies in the channel.
The main of them is connected to logistics. "The challenge of selling foods on the internet is gigantic. Mainly because you have the three chains living together: dry, refrigerated and frozen "sums up Pimentel, of Grupo Pão de Açúcar. "So that all three arrive in an extremely good condition of consumption it takes a big effort."
To do this, the network has an own fleet of trucks, adapted especially for this type of transport. According to the Executive, the retailer has developed internally '' tripartite '' vehicles. In other words, cars with three internal divisions: a dry, cold, and a frozen.
This concern with the proper conditioning of goods is not exclusive of the sugar loaf, and of Donadon Muffato, also cites this as the greatest difficulty in the operation of e-commerce. "The conditioning of perishable produce, which requires temperature and proper handling, is very difficult. Another point concerns the ripening of the fruits, vegetables and vegetables. Care in the selection and conditioning of these items have to be strict to ensure quality and freshness to the arrival at the client''s House ", says the Executive.
The company also has an own fleet for delivery, but says some of them are made by third-party carriers. "The choice of one or the other depends on the city and the volume of sales of each unit," says Donadon.
Fear of the client
Operating side the main challenge is connected to point logistics, consumer side there is still mistrust to buy perishable foods and health food store on the internet. "Brazil still exists In this lock. There''s this suspicion if the products will come with a good quality ", says Salvador.
The Director of marketing and e-commerce probe, Júlio Lopes, agrees that there''s this resistance, but says it is a reality that comes changing in recent times. "Investments in manpower training and transportation make today the delivery quality is compatible to the expectations of the customer," he says.
In line with this, in addition to the strong investments in the logistics, the Pão de Açúcar group started in 2013 to offer, in addition to traditional delivery system and '' express '' (up to 4 hours). The system '' click and remove '', consists of the customer purchases over the internet, but withdraws in the physical store.
According to Patel, the three available categories, the traditional is still the most sought after by customers, followed by the '' express '', and finally the '' click and remove ''. Despite the little appeal to the last category have left, Salvador, the ABComm, claims that she is a trend abroad. According to him, in countries of Europe and the United States, this system (which is called Drive Thru), has been expanding at a rapid pace.
Going forward
On future plans, the Sugarloaf claims must inaugurate soon a distribution center in São Paulo aimed exclusively for e-commerce. "We want to increase disproportionately our ability to operate on the internet," says Patel. Currently, the storage of the products offered in the webshop is done in their own physical stores, in a separate area and adequate infrastructure for this job.
In addition, the company plans to expand the areas of e-commerce, which today serves only the States of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, and must go next year for other great capitals like Fortaleza, Belo Horizonte and Recife. "We are also keeping an eye on macro trends in mobility. Today, more than 40% of our traffic comes from mobile, "he said.
Carrefour, which relaunched last month your ecommerce, announced at the time that must start next year the sale of foods on the internet. If the company plans actually materialize, Walmart will be the only one of the three large supermarket networks operating in Brazil not to sell these products in virtual mode.