Retailers bet again in brick-and-mortar stores

More than two years after the beginning of the pandemic, retailers have resumed investments in store openings and land purchases, at the same time they have been increasing disbursements in the digital arena — the business that has supported part of the retail results. This increases the need for the chains to expand their spending in the year, in a scenario where there are already new pressures on the cost of building the stores. There was an increase of up to 50% in the value of each new store this year compared to 2020 — in an environment of more expensive money in the market.An analysis by Valor shows that the investments of 15 public retailers — considering those with data available between 2019 and 2022 — reached R$1.9 billion from January to March this year, 35% higher than in early 2019, the year before the health crisis, when the combined figure reached R$1.4 billion. The analysis considered the amounts reported by the companies in the quarterly financial statements. When taking into account the annual expansion rate of the decade, the projection was that this figure would be reached a year ago, but the pandemic held back investments. This delay increases the need for accelerating projects, despite the uncertain consumption environment and high interest rates making capital more expensive."What is happening again is a greater allocation of funds for organic expansion, because it is not possible to keep this part of the business in the ICU for a long time, as it was. And stores are key in the strategy of online sales today. It happens that the disbursements in logistics, distribution and systems have already grown in 2020 and 2021, and it is also an investment that needs to be accelerated," said Alberto Serrentino, partner and founder of Varese Retail."Right now, this investment management is much more complex within the management teams. One thing is to invest under good conditions. Another one is with the CDI [interbank deposit rate] at the level it is. The return on capital analysis in the current environment has become more critical, but nobody doubts that companies must occupy new spaces again."Data from January to March compiled by Valor show, for example, that Via (owner of Casas Bahia and Ponto chains) opened 22 stores in this period — the highest number since 2019 — while Centauro opened four, a record in the period. In the building material chain Quero-Quero, there were 14 openings, an unprecedented number in this period...

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