Assaí maintains projects and expands the business

With the goal of closing the year with 20 new stores, Assaí Wholesalehas 13 units under construction, ten organic and three conversions from old Extra operations.
Exclusively to The Giro News Newspaper, Belmiro Gomes, president of the cash & carry network, reveals the regions that are the target of the expansion plan:
"We are focused on the growth of our business in the Northern region of the country, while betting on a second cycle of expansion in states where we already have a good presence in the capital and nearby regions, such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. In these squares, our focus is on the interior."
In all, there will be up to five Extra Hiper to Assaí conversions in the year, two of which have already been opened. Five organic branches of the flag were also inaugurated.
- Change in Customer Profile
In recent months, the network has seen changes in customer profile. "Sales to the food service fell by more than 70% at the start of the pandemic. Prior to this period, the individual consumer accounted for 50% to 55% of the sale. In the second half of March, with the first quarantine decrees, we observed a higher participation of the PF client, which came to represent 70% of the sale. Today we already have a normalization of this scenario", says Belmiro.
According to the president, in the first months of the pandemic, the increase in sales to end consumers and resellers more than offset the lower demand of food service. "With the reopening, even if partial, of bars and restaurants, we should have the population returning to eating outside the home and stocking fewer products," he says.
- Cash & Carry Technology
In the first half, the network invested in new projects, such as payment via QR Code in partnership with fintech PicPay, and arrived in new squares, such as Maranhão, and is now present in all states of the Northeast.
"We invested more than R$ 4 million in a lawsuit that aimed to give breath to the food service sector, which operated partially by delivery, through discounts of more than 20% on products," belmiro points out.
Another investment front is the technologies of purchase and service. "All stores offer free Wi-Fi and feature contactless payment technologies such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have also launched the Assaí Basic Basket Card and a cashback program with PicPay", he concludes.