Brazil Records More Than One Online Store Opened per Minute Since Quarantine Began

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil has opened more than one virtual store per minute since social isolation began in March. In a little more than two months, 107,000 new establishments were created on the Internet to sell the most different products, such as food, beverages, clothing, shoes and cleaning products.

This was the path found by many companies to mitigate the sudden drop in revenues due to the pandemic, according to a survey conducted by the Brazilian Electronic Commerce Association (ABCOMM) between March 23rd and May 31st.

Before quarantine, the average number of stores opened on the Internet was 10,000 per month. “This is the positive legacy of the negative situation we are experiencing,” says Maurício Salvador, president of ABCOMM. According to him, the sectors that led the ranking of new Internet websites were fashion, food and services.

In the Bom Retiro region, an important popular shopping mall in São Paulo, around 75 percent of storeowners have joined some form of online sales, says Nelson Tranquez, vice president of the region’s Chamber of Store Managers. According to him, the pandemic came at a time when companies were still recovering from past crises.

“With the closing of businesses in March, those who had never thought about e-commerce had to start developing tools to generate revenue,” Tranquez says. In his opinion, the pandemic led to a change in the minds of entrepreneurs, who were forced to reinvent themselves. Even those who could not afford to develop a website started selling on the marketplace or through WhatsApp, he says.

One such example was the expansion of the Ozllo platform, which sells new and used clothing and accessories. Marketplace founder Zoe Póvoa says that during the pandemic the number of companies that joined the virtual environment rose from 43 to 70 stores. “That includes everything from small businesses to famous shopping malls,” says the entrepreneur, who has seen revenues grow more than 15 percent monthly.

According to VanDick Silveira, Trevisan’s president, the pandemic has forced companies to rethink their business models. “And it became clear that the digital model works and is here to stay.” With social isolation, people started buying everything over the internet, products and services. “It’s a radical change. We’ve had a five-year leap in this process (of consumer digitalization),” Silveira says.

According to Maurício Salvador, social isolation not only hastened the opening of online stores, but it has also attracted new consumers to e-commerce. By the end of this year, three million customers are expected to join online sales. However, during quarantine alone, there were two million new consumers who had never made any transactions over the Internet until then.

This increase pushed online sales up 40 percent in the period, according to ABCOMM data. The expansion was a way for companies to at least cover their fixed expenses. With the physical structures closed, many businesses rushed to set up a system and secure some turnover. This was the case of Chocolateria Brasileira, a franchise chain with 20 stores in the country.

With the quarantine decreed on Easter eve, the company had few days to unveil an e-commerce project and sell its products over the Internet. “We managed to sell all the Easter stock and still had a great turnover and on Mother’s Day. Now we’re getting ready for Valentine’s Day”, says Cintia Pitta, Chocolateria’s franchise manager.

According to her, with the closure of stores, sales fell 60 percent. “But with online sales, we’re at zero to zero and we’re not in the red,” says Cíntia.

E-commerce was also the solution found by the franchise chain Mil e Uma Sapatilhas to offset the closure of 90 percent of franchised footware stores. “This impacted our revenues. So we came up with the idea of selling online,” says Renata Marcolino, the company’s founder. In 20 days, the company managed to post the website, today responsible for 20 percent of turnover expected for the period (without the pandemic). “Thanks to the website we were able to sustain the company,” she says, who started selling sneakers at home.

At Spot Urbano restaurant, online sales represent 15 percent of regular turnover. The establishment has used apps and social media to sell. “We’ve been closed since March 18th. If it weren’t for online sales, my revenues would have been zero,” says Eduardo Santiago Silveira, the restaurant’s owner.

Source: Estadão Conteúdo