Walmart is relaunching its hypermarket concept in Brazil, with the reopening of Walmart Tamboré (in Greater São Paulo) and the rebranding of the BIG Novo Hamburgo (Rio Grande do Sul) and BIG Santa Felicidade (Parana) stores as Walmart outlets.
The retailer is investing BRL 1 billion over the next three years in the rebranding of the BIG stores (acquired from Sonae in 2005) and Hiper Bompreço (purchased in 2004 from Royal Ahold) and the relaunch of the hypermarket concept. This will require a change of store layout, assortment, and services offered, as well as equipment in the sales and internal areas.
According to Flavio Cotini, president of Walmart Brasil, the goal is to provide a much better shopping experience for customers. "We will have a more comfortable, lighter store, with wider corridors, a higher quality of fruits and vegetables, a more innovative assortment in technology items, and low prices, always," he said.
The hypermarkets will be divided into three main areas: grocery and hygiene/cleaning, perishables, and non-food/beauty. In the grocery area, the focus is on productivity: the products will be in pallets and ready-for-display boxes on shelves.
In the perishables area – the main traffic generator in the store – the focus is on the quality of fruits and vegetables, to attract and retain customers.
Walmart Brasil has 485 stores in 18 states and the Federal District, under several formats: hypermarkets (Walmart, Hiper Bompreço and BIG), supermarkets (Bompreço, Nacional and Mercadorama), wholesale (Maxxi), Shopping Club (Sam's), and neighborhood stores (TodoDia).
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
