Owner of Casas Bahia search sales growth online in 2017

São Paulo – Via Retail reservation for 2017 1 series of measures aimed to improve processes and experience of its customers, continuing the effort begun last year to accelerate the growth of online sales and generate value for the largest network of consumer electronics in the country.
"The result of the first quarter, we''re going to show you a Commerce that grows back generating value for the company. And this will be the keynote of 2017, "said Reuters Director of e-commerce Via retail, Flávio Days.
The company, which is controlled by Grupo Pão de Açúcar, found 10,4% drop in total sales revenue (GMV) online in the fourth quarter of 2016, after registering 24,2% indentation in the third quarter. In the year as a whole, the decline was 16,3%.
"Our perspective is to grow more than the market (this year)," he added.
E-commerce sales in the country should grow 12% this year, according to the company''s expectation of information about the electronic retail Ebit, an acceleration in about 2016, when the billing was discharged 7,4% nominal.
The bet Via retail, which controls the brands PontoFrio, Casas Bahia and represents a strong reaction to last year''s numbers, but Days pointed out that restructuring and adjustments promoted in 2016 already have shown a result over the past few months and that, combined with new initiatives, should make the company grow back and in a sustainable way.
Among the actions to re-grow is the completion of the systemic integration of Via Retail and Cnova Brazil, planned for July, which will benefit the operation, especially in the stocks, including the costs of loading, said the Executive.
The Brazil Cnova became a wholly owned subsidiary of Via Retail in the second half of last year. Before it was controlled by the French group Casino Cnova, which controls the GPA. According to Days, commercial integrations and logistics between the two companies were completed in 2016.
In the last quarter of last year, the GPA has made your sale majority stake in Via retail. The offers should begin to be received by Casino Guichard Perrachon in March. Chile''s SACI Falabella and the brazilian American stores are in the Group of interested, according to sources heard by Reuters.
Multichannel
Another key part of the company strategy, according to the Executive, is the expansion of multichannel mode, bringing, for example, the number of consumers who shop online and physical stores products. "Our goal is to reach 30 percent," said Day.
In 2016, the average online purchases dropped in stores was eligible to 15%. According to the Executive, the increase this year will be with the expansion of the range of products, shops and eligible States in this mode.
Via Retail is also working on a pilot project in which the consumer will have access in the physical store to any site inventory, choosing where you will receive the product. The project will begin in March and must be implemented on all drives in the second half.
According to Days, it will elevate the sortimendo available to the seller and the customer about 4000 items normally available in a store to 100000 in a first moment, and 2 million of items when this service incorporate marketplace platform.
"That way, we will have 18000 helping sellers sell the products on the site," he said.
On another front, Via intends to allow Retail Exchange and return in physical stores of goods bought online. "It also reduces cost to the company, in addition to the friction with clients, because the reverse logistics process is complicated," he said.
Network application update for mobile devices is also in the plans, as the company sees growth in participation of the access channel and sales of the company, in line with a trend in the market as a whole.
Some analysts estimate that the Retail Route is still late compared to the digital transformation efforts of competitors like Magazine Luiza, who in the last quarter of 2016 presented 41,4% growth in online sales.
Via States that the participation of Retail sales through mobile devices go up this year to about 25 the 30% online sales totals, compared with about of 20% in 2016.
To face the competition in a consumer environment retracted, Via also provides Retail implement measures in the coming months in the area of communication, the use of information technology and strategy of definition of the marketplace.