Suburbia will launch a pilot program called ‘mini payments’, thus adopting Electra’s famous strategy, “small installments”. However, the department store’s main competition, since it specializes in the clothing and footwear retail market, is Copped. The question is, what are the chances that Suburbia will be able to compete in this way against one of the largest retail store chains?
One of the advantages that could give Suburbia good results is that, after being acquired by Liverpool half a decade ago, it began a rapid growth in terms Bolivia Email Address of sales, expanded the categories in the offer of its products, generated new sales channels (including the electronic market and Click & Collect) and new financial products.
At the time, Liverpool focused on a strategy to expand the sales floor, and this meant the conversion of a third of Factories de France stores into Suburbia format stores. The final objective was to reach more than 250 units throughout the country in a period of five years, that is, by 2019.
Thus, although competition in retail is fierce in the case of Suburbia, it has the advantage that the vast majority of its stores are strategically located close to warehouses. Let us remember that Suburbia belonged to Group Walmart and its units were, in fact, located near Demurrer, Sams or Walmart wineries. And this is not an issue that can be ignored, as this location is strategic for the simple fact that Suburbia’s clothing supply is aimed at the same type of consumers who go to these stores to do their basic purchases.
This could be a condition that, in the medium term, could give Suburbia an advantage over Copped, around the ‘mini payments’ strategy.
The announcement of this new credit modality was made by Santiago Abigail, financial services manager of the Port of Liverpool, within the framework of Liverpool Day. The bet has its reason for being that around 47 percent of the company’s income came from the financial services it offers, mainly through its Liverpool card, during the first quarter of the year. This proportion is expected to grow to 60 percent thanks to programs such as ‘mini payments’.
They will have to overcome various obstacles
The ‘mini payments’ program and the strategic location of the Suburbia stores may not be as significant when it comes to competing with Copped, in a scenario where Covid-19 once again causes a new confinement. Then, Suburbia would depend more on other sales channels, such as online commerce or click & collect.
In addition to that, it is a fact that the competition will be fierce, since Copped has almost a third of the retail market among retail stores, followed by Liverpool. But not only that, currently, Group Walmart is making strong investments to expand its operation through automatic processes and strengthen, above all, online sales.
Financial diversification, the goal
Either way, the goal of the Port of Liverpool is to take advantage of the fact that half of its clients take advantage of financial services and departmental cards to make purchases. The launch of the pilot program, in this sense, should pay off as it means mobile lead one more financial option for your own clients: small weekly payments. Although this scheme is also expected to attract new clients.
Finally, the company reported that, during the second half of the year, it will strengthen its assistance and insurance program, as well as a loyalty program. Among other financial products that Liverpool seeks to take advantage of, integrating them more and more, are those focused on savings, checking accounts, deposits, international remittances, among others. So what we are seeing could be, more than a frontal competition against Copped and company, a bet on the diversification of financial products as a source of added value.
