Leading Brazilian retailers Carrefour Brasil and GPA are planning to invest R$ 1.8 billion (€403.3 million) each in 2019, in their respective store portfolios.
Carrefour Brazil is maintaining the same level of investments as this year, while GPA plans to increase capex by around 12.5% in 2019.
Both are increasing investment in the cash & carry wholesale format (known locally as ‘atacarejo’) for continued growth, but are also increasingly focusing on digital channel and dedicated apps.
Atacadão Expansion
At Carrefour Brasil, out of the 38 new store openings in 2018, 20 were under its wholesale outlet banner Atacadão, which increased the group’s sales area by 13% to around 1.05 million square metres.
The plan is to open 20 stores annually for at least the next three to four years. Currently, Carrefour operates 166 self-service and 27 wholesale delivery Atacadão stores.
In addition, 18 new Carrefour Market and Carrefour Express units were opened in the state of Sao Paulo, taking the overall store network to 630 units.
As well as network expansion, strategic priorities include food transition and digital transformation. Carrefour is investing in the development of new regional suppliers; expanding shelf space for healthy, organic and private label references; promoting sales of discounted non-aesthetic foods; and reviewing the nutritional profile of 400 SKUs.
GPA Investment
Elsewhere, GPA will target a significant part of its investments in the premium and discount segments. It plans to open 15-20 stores under the the Assaí atacarejo format each year until 2021.
Chief executive Peter Estermann told Reuters there is still room for the consolidation of the store model in Brazil, with 19 hypermarkets converted into Assaí stores over the past year and a half.
In 2019, the retailer will open five to ten new Pão de Açúcar supermarkets and 10 neighbourhood stores under the Minuto Pão de Açúcar banner.
The conversion of supermarkets to the Mercado Extra and Compre Bem banners will continue, and there are no plans for opening new hypermarkets in the period.
In the private label segment, the intention is to increase the share of products in overall turnover to 20% by the end of 2020, up from the current 10%.
As part of its digital transformation process, GPA recently acquired Brazilian startup James Delivery, with the aim of increased integration of the physical and online channels.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
