Leroy Merlin creates the first ' virtual shopping ' in the industry of building materials

Leader in selling construction materials in the country, the Leroy Merlin chose a peculiar strategy to advance in online. The network prepares to inaugurate, on 12 November, your marketplace – the first virtual shopping of a company in the sector, but that's going to gather stores of appliances, furniture, bed, bath & beyond. The intention is to sell the House furniture items that complement the construction materials marketed by the company. The goal of the retailer is that the digital area – site and marketplace – answer by 10% of revenues in ten years. Today the site alone represents 2% of the total revenue of the company in the country that last year totaled R $5.3 billion. In the last six years, the retailer has invested $260 million R in information technology (it) to put your digital expansion. "Then we've finished our debt and our future business is digital," says the Director-General of the society in Brazil, Alain Ryckeboer. The Brazil will be the first country in which the French company will have a virtual shopping mall. The next is scheduled for next year in Russia. The Executive's justification for the choice of the Brazil be the pioneer in the initiative lies in the fact the Brazilian being too digital. "He gets an average of 5 hours a day on the internet." About of 40 suppliers are in the final stage of negotiation to join the marketplace. "The interest of retailers is great because we already have a site with 10 million visits per month, good purchasing power and a strong brand." Together, these 40 vendors resell about of 140,000 items. But, initially, will be offered 5000. "If everything goes right, if they respect the delivery times and the company's standards, we will incorporate more products gradually," explains Ryckeboer. According to the President of the National Association of traders of construction materials (Anamaco), Claudio Conz, marketplace, in this case, acts as a key differentiator because it allows the retailer to have national presence, selling products in related area . For the consultant Mark Gouvea de Souza, Director-General of the GS Group & Gouvea de Souza, the virtual mall is a path with less risk for companies who want to expand their business online. According to him, most of the time, the e-commerce is a deficit because, as the consumer in the online research prices before buying, the tendency of companies is to reduce the values. "It flattens the profitability of online retail," he explains. "In the marketplace, the retailer does not have to buy and store product. With this, you can enlarge the market share without sacrificing profitability. " Edward Land, President of the Brazilian Society of retail and consumption (SBVC), notes that the trend of marketplace is expanding to other threads. He warns, however, that construction materials and furniture are critical segments in terms of complaints from consumers. "This is a risk we can splash in the virtual shopping." The online project of Leroy is to integrate the physical store with the virtual. "We are investing in an internal transformation to customers to buy whatever they want wherever they want," says Ryckeboer. Instead of having a distribution center (CD) central, the shops will be delivery of goods basis for e-commerce. With this, it will be possible to reduce the delivery time of the online sales of eight days to two days. The goal is to deploy this system in all 41 stores. Ryckeboer says that the decision to transform the stores on CDs was already taken before the Teamsters ' strike. With the strike, she was ratified. Company will invest R $300 million in 2019 the Leroy Merlin will invest R $300 million in the country in 2019 in the logistics chain of supply, distribution centre with 120,000 square meters in Cajamar, in a shop and in the field. Is virtually the same figure applied this year. "Brazil always come. It's been four years that is slow and, if it continues, we're used to. Don't we invest ", says the Director-General of the society in Brazil, Alain Ryckeboer. For 20 years in the country, the Executive said he saw four crises. "Hopefully we are at the beginning of a wave of growth," said the Executive, who claims to be optimistic. This week the company completed the construction of the largest home center of the network in Latin America, which is in the Marginal Tietê in São Paulo, and spent $110 million contribution of R. One of the innovations of the store, in addition to a drive thru, where the customer can purchase the product without leaving the car, is a laboratory equipped with 3D printers, labels and laser cutting machines. "Any person who want to innovate, invent a product or replace a piece will be able to manufacture it here, on 3D printer, in acrylic," says Ryckeboer.