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Salomón Asmar Soto – [email protected]
The covid-19 pandemic did not stop the expansion of savings stores in the national territory. The president of Koba-Colombia (Tiendas D1), Fernando González Somosa, assured that the period of isolation “slightly delayed their expansion plans”, but that they aim to close 2020 with 1,700 stores in the country.
With the pandemic crisis in a state of economic reactivation, how much did covid-19 affect the growth of D1 in Colombia?
The commitment to continue creating employment is essential. Precisely the best way to confirm this is to continue opening stores, so our goal is to close the year with 1,700 throughout the country. It is true that the pandemic has slightly delayed our action plan, but it has not really meant a deterioration in either our expansion plan or our business figure.
How many stores do you have at the moment?
We are celebrating the opening of the 1,500 store, which is located in San José del Guaviare. For us it is a very big commitment, since we did not have a presence in Guaviare, so it is a distant store and that corresponds to what we told our clients of wanting to have a national presence and in the largest number of departments. We will soon open in San Andrés in the next few months and, if there is no problem, in another department such as Amazonas.
How many jobs will these new stores generate?
Despite the pandemic, we are a company that continues to generate between 300 and 500 jobs per month, because each time we open a store we create between six and eight jobs. We believe that the best thing we have to do to help in this difficult situation is to create jobs. I believe that this creates value for society in a sustainable way and our goal is to continue giving opportunities to our more than 13,000 employees.
How did you start working in e-commerce and in homes?
Since the pandemic began, our first objective has been the health security of our customers and employees. It is true that we did not plan the e-commerce and home offer at that time, but as a company we made the decision to offer customers this possibility as quickly as possible because we believe it was a necessity at that time. We are not proud of the quality with which we did it, but as a company we continue to offer these services and we are going to do it in a structural way and with the idea of improving daily in this regard.
In the medium and long term, is this process compatible with the concept of D1 Stores?
We still have to improve and we are a long way from what we expect as a company. We have to evolve, because in the beginning what we looked for were strategic allies to help us, but although we are not satisfied it was a necessity to provide that service, at a time when we had to think about the safety of our clients. Faced with e-commerce, we can say that the digital supply of basic necessities is here to stay.
What percentage of your products is imported?
Practically 80% of our products are of national production, only a part comes from abroad and from very close countries such as Ecuador.
Discount stores are the fastest growing companies in retail, is there room to continue growing?
There is still enough space. The discount stores have a market share of more than 20%, depending on the market analysis companies. We believe that there is a lot of space to open in Colombia and the competition is good, so the client has the option to choose and that makes us continue to improve. From our own brand model we understand that this is the best way to offer quality at very competitive prices.
Do you have a new D1 Store format planned?
We have nothing planned, but what is certain is that at the company level we have to continue evolving. I believe that there is a certain paradigm that retail is simple, but it is possible to continue innovating and we must continue to surprise customers. We think we are not done, and we celebrate 1,500 stores, but this is just the first day of the future.
