Latin America News & Analysis

Asda is partnering with Uber Eats to offer grocery delivery in 30 minutes. Meanwhile, Uber is also launching an on-demand delivery service in Latin America and Canada. Asda trial Asda is launching a trial with Uber Eats from its stores in Leeds (Pudsey) and Birmingham (Barnes Hill). Customers will be able to order, with no minimum spend, from more than 300 own-brand products and branded ...

Hirota, a Brazilian supermarket chain with around 35 stores in São Paulo, is opening micro stores (of between 15 and 30 sq. m) in adapted shipping containers. They are being opened in common areas of residential condominiums and are aimed at supporting communities by enabling them to buy groceries on their doorstep during the Covid-19 pandemic. "With the pandemic, we realised that many did ...

Brazil has become the first country to enable consumers to send and receive money through the (Facebook-owned) WhatsApp messenger app. WhatsApp has over 120m users in Brazil who can now use it to send and receive money between friends and family, to make purchases or pay local businesses without leaving the app. Payments made using Facebook Pay The payment is made in WhatsApp, but uses th...

In June 2020 Colombian retailer Grupo Éxito remodelled its Éxito Express store in the affluent El Poblado neighbourhood in Medellin. The 300 sq. m convenience store has been adapted to feature new initiatives aimed at protecting customer safety. Grupo Éxito invested a little over COP600m (US$158,000) into the concept. Source: Grupo Éxito Biosecurity measures used for a safer shopping...

Colombia’s Grupo Éxito has invested around COP4 bn (US$1m) in renovating six stores under its Super Inter banner. The stores are in the south western region of Valle del Cauca, five in the city of Cali and one in the town of Jamundí. Source: Grupo Éxito As a result of coronavirus, Super Inter is focused on providing safe shopping environments for its customers. It has implemented var...

Peruvian consumers are feeling increasingly time poor, from working longer hours in busy, heavily congested cities. As such, they are seeking convenience and speed of purchase, which is driving buying decisions. This has created a space for retailers to develop proximity formats. In the last five years we have seen a rapid expansion of modern convenience and hard discount stores, which has b...

Rapid delivery services have been present in Latin America for around a decade, although the most successful start-ups launched in 2014 and 2015. Through a range of providers customers can order fast-food, restaurant meals, groceries, medicine, and more and have these delivered by courier in under an hour. Evolving region creating opportunity for rapid delivery services Latin America’s ci...

Brazilian retailer GPA (part of the French retail group Casino) has reported gross revenue of BRL15.9 bn (US$2.8 bn) for Q1 2020. This represents a significant increase of 15% year-on-year (YOY). Its strong performance is largely driven by the maturation of cash and carry stores opened over the last 24 months, combined with a positive sales uplifts from optimising its core estate. Core estat...

Grupo Éxito (part of French retail group Casino) has reported net sales of COP2.9 tn (US$744m) for Q1. This represents sales growth of 9.4%, or 5.3% ex-COVID-19. Same-store sales (SSS) grew by 9.6% in the quarter. Grupo Éxito has seen positive sales growth over the last 18 months, which has been largely driven by the solid performance of its latest store formats, as well as omnichannel growth....

Less than a year after closing its online operations in Brazil, DIA has partnered with online food deliverer iFood to reintroduce a delivery service in the country. Similarly, in Argentina it has partnered with Pedidos Ya (Order Now) and Glovo, to cope with overwhelming demand for deliveries as a result of the lockdown. Latest DIA store design in São Paulo, Brazil Source: IGD Resea...