After crisis in retail, Fnac and hail will decrease size of shops in the country

São Paulo-after the network of bookshops Sami spread last week that undergoes a process of revising the cost of occupation of its units yesterday (23) the French Fnac competitor claiming that should work in Brazil also has shops in sizes reduced.
The aim of both is the same, despite being motivated by different reasons. At Fnac, the change is caused by increased rent costs and operating expenses, which have increased in recent years and have become untenable in the face of the economic crisis in the country. In hail, beyond cost-cutting, there is a capital restructuring in progress, what prompted the company to accelerate the reduction of some units.
Moreover, according to experts consulted by the DCI, the measure of reducing the format of stores is a trend in retail, where major networks fight real battles to reduce costs with the huge stores in operation, while the openings include reduced and more productive units. "The shops will have to be smaller. Rental costs increased a lot in recent years and must work with reality. We opened this year''s new model of '' proximity '' at terminal three of Guarulhos airport and our expansion plan goes through smaller formats ", says the CEO of Fnac in Brazil, Claudia Soares.
Currently, the largest unit of the network in operation in the country has about 3000 square meters, while the store located in the São Paulo airport has between 300 and 400 square meters. The new units, which are part of the expansion plan of the French retailer in Brazil, must have these sizes.
For Soares, however, this is not the way to get in the way of the company''s strategy to make the customer experience even better at the time of purchase. "We have a strong concern for the consumer to have a great shopping experience in our stores and we have been working on it. We are evolving in that direction. The format '' proximity '' part of the plan "ensures the Executive.
In the rival Saraiva, shops has already begun. Currently 112 operations in the country, two of them, one in São Paulo and another in Recife, passed recently by the optimization process and a conflict between the shareholders may have accelerated the measures.
The first results of change appeared on the last balance sheet of the company. The operating expenses of the Group retreated 3.3% in the second quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year, to R$ 132,900,000. Not to mention the impact of return on SOCIAL SECURITY to the payroll of employees, the reduction would be greater: of 7.5%.
Consolidated net debt of hail, which between April and June was R$ 754,000,000 2015 fell to less than half in a year, reduced to 311,000,000 R$ in the same period this year. At the end of the first quarter, she was in R$ 397,000,000.
Smaller and more productive
In view of the retail specialist and head of the GS & AGR-Gouvea de Souza, Alexander Van Beeck, the two networks follow a trend that has been strengthened in the United States, to reduce, but to increase productivity.
"Something similar happened with the supermarkets, which have won local smaller models, but they have all the customer needs. The thought is the same. Offer an assortment of appropriate items, instead of offering every product, as was done before ".
Frederico Trajano, CEO of Magazine Luiza, defends the same thesis: "there is no more room for huge stores, but for production shops, which offer services and experiences that satisfy the client. In the United States, for example, large networks are facing problems to implement this optimization, "commented the Executive.