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Tiendas D1, headquartered in Koba Colombia, is doing away with the complex year that is the economic blow due to the coronavirus. It is a reality that for tanks of thought and the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane) there are sectors that have benefited from the crisis, one of them: the food trade.
D1 takes advantage of that moment to give a boost to expansion in Colombia, adding more customer service channels and physical stores in regions where it had not entered, such as San José del Guaviare.
Fernando González, president of Koba Colombia, spoke with Rate Analytics on the balance of 2020 and the perspectives that the firm has for 2021.
They open their store 1,500 at a particular time …
It is a joy for us to talk about the 1,500 store. A year ago we opened the 1,000. We are meeting the objectives set to serve our customers, and we continue to meet the expectations of our partners. It has been a complex, difficult year. Although we are a privileged sector for having maintained operations, we had a slowdown in expansion.
How many stores will D1 end up with in Colombia this year?
Despite how complex the macro situation may be, and understanding that there are challenges to be overcome, we expect to close with 1,700 stores this year.
How is the billing going and what would be the data at the end of the year?
The expectation is to reach $ 8 billion. We continue with good growth rates, which are maintained with the economic reopening. If these results occur, we would have growth close to 45% or 50%.
What we must do is continue to evolve, responding to the needs of customers, what the Colombian consumer asks of us. We have the capacity to grow.
Also read: D1 stores: sales grow and jobs remain
What are the goals for 2021?
Continue expanding, we have territories that we can reach despite the 300 municipalities in which we are. In normal conditions we expect 400 or 450 openings. And we must also continue to listen to what customers demand, improve the offer and range we have.
We would have the capacity to reach more than 2,500 points in the country. There is a significant challenge at times when you have to offer new products.
In which regions are you going to focus this expansion?
Antioquia is very strong for having been the region in which we started. We need to densify in Colombia. We hope to open the first stores in Amazon. We have already reached San José del Guaviare. There are very important regions for the operation: Arauca and Vichada are areas where you can grow.
One of the important changes of the pandemic was attention through non-face-to-face channels. How did that transition go?
When the pandemic began, there was a lower frequency of people in physical stores and that is why we took measures. Our goal was to have a quick response to people’s demands. We had a proposal for addresses through the internet or by phone calls.
It was not something that we had as a banner of the strategic plan and that is why we will have to continue evolving. What is certain is that it is a change that is here to stay. Still, we do not believe that the client is exclusively digital or face-to-face; it will move in various worlds.
What were the most important changes in consumption habits that you evidenced?
It is true that the pandemic brought changes in eating habits, but it was a trend that had been coming for a long time, we had with what to respond to these new demands.
There are other products like alcoholic beverages that have been kept. What is certain is that home cooking became very important in the pandemic and therefore ensuring a balanced diet was important. We could also notice that.
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