Sequoia buys two competitors and will make deliveries throughout the country

More than convincing the consumer to spend money, the challenge of e-commerce is one: deliver the purchase in the shortest time and cost possible. In order to solve this problem, Sequoia, one of the largest logistics and warehousing companies in the country's online retail, increased its appetite and departed for the acquisition of regional competitors. Controlled by the American background Warburg Pincus since 2014, the company spent R $100 million with purchases this year. In January, he acquired the TexLog, the leader of deliveries in Rio de Janeiro. This week, he closed the purchase of the logistics leader in the e-commerce segment in the northeast. The name of the company, however, will only be disclosed after the approval of the business by the defense agencies of the competition. "We continue to look at the market in search of new opportunities to reinforce the presence in the last mile (term in English to designate the final excerpt of the delivery)," says Armando Marchesan Neto, president of Sequoia. According to him, the company already stored and transported orders from online commerce in the northeast, but with the acquisition, it increases the capillarity in the region and reaches the north. From now on, the company will be present throughout the country. Sequoia delivers 2 million orders per month, of which 5% on the same day. Among its 78 customers are brands such as Lojas Renner, C&A, Camicado, Luiza, Amazon, Natura and Nespresso, among others. With acquisitions, Marchesan says that the company's revenues should grow in this year 80% and reach R $800 million, after having increased 20% in 2018. For 2020, the expectation is to invoice more R $1 billion, on account of new customers and signed contracts. Jump The growth in the two-digit house may seem strange, while the Brazilian economy patina. But Marchesan explains that the company is "on the glue" of e-commerce. Online retail in the country represents less than 5% of total trade sales, but continues to accelerate. The growth of the sector, in 2018, was 15%, a percentage that should be repeated this year. Cesar Meireles, director of the Brazilian Association of Logistic Operators (Abol), which gathers 31 companies in the sector, says that the final stretch of delivery is the biggest challenge in the area, especially due to the lack of infrastructure in the country. "The last mile can represent 60% of the freight cost," he says. According to him, there is a consolidation movement of the logistic companies as a whole, not only in the e-commerce segment. This movement must continue and occur to promote scale gains and reduce operating costs.