A giant leaves, Mercado Libre takes advantage: what is the Galperin Plan to assemble its Falabella Online
Marcos Galperin is finally winning "local" to Falabella, who has just closed three stores in the provinces of San Juan, Córdoba and Mendoza in his Achique plan destined to achieve "greater sustainability" of his business.
But the bleeding of the Chilean giant started in September, when it began to lower the blinds into two Buenos Aires branches, in Florida 343 and Dot Baires Shopping;And a Buenos Aires, in turtles Open Mall.Thus, only four of the ten that they knew how to have standing.
Meanwhile, on the sidewalk of the Sun continues to walk at a firm free market, with the glue wind of the pandemic that hits both the ecommerce and digital payments.
In fact, it is one of the favorite actions of the Wall Street brokers: it went from US $ 488 to US $1.Current 900, which brought their stock market value to US $ 94.000 million.
Thus, it is located along with other giants such as Baidu, known as the "Chinese Google";or Snap, the social network for adolescents that invented the "stories".And it is at the top among the "multilatine", surpassing the Minera Vale (U $ S90.000 million) y Petrobras (u$s69.000 million).
Overcoming Falabella was a pending debt of the most important Argentine businessman in history.In the book "The Kings of Argentina", Galperin had already marked the trans -Andean giant as the rival to win, which at that time was worth $30.000 in the Santiago Stock Exchange.Today, its capitalization is US $9.200 million.
Own Falabella
The main players of the Chilean retail bet on Argentine executives, given their fame as "emergenologists" of companies in financial problems, to try to deal with Mercado Libre.
Thus, Matías Videla Solá was appointed General Manager of Cencosud;Gonzalo Gebara took the reins of the trans -Andean subsidiary of Walmart and Gaston Bottazzini was at the head of Falabella as CEO in 2018.
The first great Play of Bottazzini was the "blow for coup".Just as Mercado Libre "ate" Share through the online business, Falabella did the same: he acquired Linio, a regional regional ecommerce, for the negligible sum of US $ 1.380 million.
Galperin did not wrinkle and also started playing in the field of Chilean holding, but in digital version.That same year, the Pay Passage Payment of a simple free market charges to a Fintech with services comparable to that of a financial entity - as Banco Falabella, which operates in Chile - but of regional presence - but of regional presence - but of regional presence began.
The coup de grace occurred in 2020.First, the unicorn hurried his free supermarket, as Iproup advanced.Thus, its segment with its own stock and convenient prices of articles of Alica in its Logistics Center of La Matanza allowed to compete equally with the supermarket chains.
To see the success of this vertical, he did not hesitate to accelerate the creation of his own "Falabella Online", with the direct sale of bazaar, electronics and other products items.
That is, he formed a true "departmental" store, a very rooted concept in Chile (who cover Alameda Avenue in Santiago will see in each block a branch of Falabella, Paris or Ripley) and that in Argentina only had the antecedent of the iconic HolGath and Chaves.
Thus, he took advantage that the Chilean was "in retreat" on albiceleste soil, largely due to imports to imports and access to the exchange market, added to the international crisis of this type of stores.
Nor are there too many interested in staying with the Argentine operation, although the Private Equity Fund inhabited, led by the exautopartist Hugo Pascalli launched an offer.Instead, Sodimac, another of the group's signatures, received proposals from the Invelat Fund (owners of Havanna), the Beromat and José Manuel Ortiz Maslllorens construction chain, one of the South Conversits partners Investments.
According to information provided to IProup, the project was not new: the company formed its sales department with the hiring of "purchase" executives, typical division of retail chains that is responsible for selecting suppliers.To nurture that area, the most valuable company in the region "was hunting" by professionals from large mass consumption companies.
"We have been advancing in work models with sellers to continue providing the best shopping experience to users," said Iproup from the Unicorn.
And they complete: "Among them, the offer of exclusive products that brands allocate to sell only in Mercado Libre is highlighted and the creation of new labels for other categories that currently do not have a competitive offer in the Marketplace".
In this way, the Latin American ecommerce giant launched its own stores that come to emulate the "departments" of a Falabella -style place:
"We are a company that constantly innovates and part of its DNA implies trying new services and products.The main focus continues to grow the millions of vendors who sell through Mercado Libre under the Third Party model, "they highlight from the company.
This model is based on:
These "departmental" stores are worth the strategy that the US company has implemented for years - a year, also has its Amazon Basics store - although it usually buy merchandise (model First Party).But it is not the only play that the "Grand Master" Galperin unfolds on the Latin American board not to let Jeff Bezos's bishops advance.
Lead the region
Experts do not hesitate.The success of Mercado Libre is given by something that learned rapidly: logistics, which includes not only transport, but also supply.This is a part of the process that seemed "invisible" before the arrival of the coronavirus.
"To see the importance of logistics, you have to analyze the gigantic distance that Amazon took out Ebay," Eduardo Bastitta, CEO of Plaza Logistics, administrator of the property in which Mercado Libre is installed, told IProup.
According to the Executive, the change was in the last three years.And describe how logistics is enhanced in the digital age:
"It's as if you download part of the capillarity and 'achica' when approaching the destination point," Remarca Bastitta, who emphasizes that logistics planning takes the form of a network with multiple points.
Alejandro Leiras, Arlog training and research director, agrees that the great free market differential is "how to supply the consumption network" and the technological nature of the company.
Leiras affirms that artificial intelligence and big data (processing large amounts of data) allows you to anticipate demand and prepare the entire logistics process before users buy.Thanks to the Machine Learning, the algorithms learn from the behavior of each and the prediction is increasingly successful.
"This is how it achieves speed: I know what the customer wants, where he lives and where is the product.Machines have the ability to see a lot of plays and learn from them.It was demonstrated with the clashes between Kasparov and the Deep Blue computer, "Leiras Graph, with a tailor-to-measure definition, a fan from a very young age of sport-science.
With Falabella in retreat from several markets, what will be the next piece that will move Mercado Libre?Experts do not doubt it: that this logistics network ceases to be national and becomes regional.And that the fullfilments he possesses in Argentina, plus the one that will lift in Chile (the first in that country) and the two of Brazil (plus a third in construction).
"Free market is very, very big.For such a scale, there is no longer talk of provinces or bordering countries but of the region, "Raúl Garreta, of the Argentine Business Logistics Association (Arlog) tells Iproup..
At this point, according to the expert, Meli Air relevance acquires, the fleet of airplanes that has just announced the unicorn for its operation in Brazil."If you have airplanes, you will use them to buy in those countries where you have operations and get better prices, and then sell those products in any nation in the region," says Garreta.
Lleiras agrees that now the best free market defense against Amazon, which began selling articles in Brazil last year, will be to take advantage of its leadership in Ecommerce Verdeamarelho.
"The great Couer, like DHL, have their own airplanes.There is clearly a positioning: transits of more than 3.000 km and with delivery in 24 hours, the plane is a solution, "says Lleiras.
And he adds: "That they have done it in Brazil has a great logic.You can expand the market and go against Amazon.That will give you a local response capacity and between countries at the regional level ".
Galperín fulfilled one of its main earrings.His passion for rugby injected a spirit of competition without equal, while his fanaticism for chess - the American Bobby Fisher was his childhood idol - they contributed the strategy to overcome.Do you need to go against Amazon?It will be a duel of Titans, but the unicorn is already prepared for the big leagues.