In 2019, supermarkets will invest in imported and reopening of slots

Confident with regard to the macroeconomic scenario which draws to 2019, the supermarket sector players must resume the cycle of business investments. The opening of stores, hiring employees and stock more imported items are among the intentions of contribution. "For 2019, we expect the sector to supermarkets and hypermarkets will grow around 4 percent. This year, which has strained was the exchange rate fluctuation, which put pressure on commodity prices and transport. Anyway, is one of the major retail segments, representing approximately 30% of the total revenues of the Brazilian trade, "said the Chief Economist of the National Commerce Confederation for goods, services and tourism (CNC), Fábio Bentes. For the expert, the economic scenario – especially with the possibility that exchange rate stability – will stimulate investments as "the creation of 35000 jobs" and a greater balance in the gondolas between foreign and domestic items. "If the dollar retreating more, there will be more stimulus in the sale of imported goods," argued Bentes, noting that the American currency more "weak" can assist also in the durable goods trade in this sector. For information purposes, according to a study by the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (Open), in October, 65% of the supermarket showed optimism with the economic environment over the next six months – reaching the highest level of confidence in the bi-monthly analysis of 2018 following the tone of the economic indicators and the trend of foreign exchange balance, the network of supermarket UNNO, located in Rio de Janeiro, must earn 5% more on Christmas this year compared to the same period last year. "Next year, we anticipate a greater demand on the possibility of economic changes and reforms," commented the President of the network of supermarkets, Mj Bezerra.De accordance with the Executive, the profitability of the business must be sustained in part by greater participation of imported products in total sales. "We are expecting a high of 5% and 10% in average ticket. The products with the highest sales in the category of imported must be the olive oil, wine and biscuits, "said Baloch. In line with this vision, another study conducted by the Open reveals that, to 2019, the registered products with greatest demand are: ice cream (14.9%), yogurt (11%), instant noodles (10.5%) and refrigerated folder (9.7%). According to Balogun, expectation of increase in headcount, but that such a measure will depend on how network performance throughout the year. In this sense, another example of a network that announced future contributions for next year was the Group Samir. Second announcement of the company held last month, there will be investment of R $300 million in 2019. The investment is intended to open 10 more stores by 2020; recruitment of 2000 new employees; and reform of existing units. In addition, billing network perspective is achieve R $3 billion and 30% increase in revenue over the next two years. "Our goal is that our network is among the 10 largest in Brazil," said one of the founders of the supermarket chain, Sebastian Edson Samir. Online investment With strategic positioning process-aligned digital transformation and integration between the physical and online channels, the Chairman of GPA, Peter Estermann, stated that one of the challenges, from 2019, concerns the extension of the customer base on virtual platforms. "Today we have 7.5 million downloads in My application and My Prizes. We intend to double that number of users, "said Estermann, without revealing how soon this increment will be held. In relation to General developments in business expectations for the next year, the President declared that the GPA "walks into a cycle of growth multivarejo organic continuing with advances of Assai, with major focus on the process of digital transformation and also investment in own brands. " According to him, the expectation is to double to 140 the number of shops built into the "Express Delivery" delivery model from the own units.