C&C becomes more home and less construction
Valor Econômico
The Brazilian market of building materials went through a downturn during the crisis that, even today, continues affecting the main players. The Brazilian branch of the French Leroy Merlin has overcome the sector leader, C&C Casa e Construção (House and Construction), which belongs to the Alfa group, of the banker Aloísio Faria. According to the ranking elaborated by the magazine of the National Association of Construction Material Retailers (Anamaco), based on information of suppliers of the sector, C&C fell to third place in 2009, even behind the also French Saint-Gobain (taking into account its main chain, Telhanorte, as also its other brands Telhanorte Pro and Center Líder).
Largest chain of the country since its creation in 2000 (with the incorporation of Conibra and Madeirense), C&C is not willing to see its share shrink in a market that had R$ 45 billion (US$ 22.8 billion) in operations last year, with an increase of 4.2%, and that promises to increase even more in 2010. In order to inject new energy into the business, the Alfa group chain decided to intensify its attention towards the women audience, which already amounts to 55% of its customers, and remodel its points of sale, making them environmentally sustainable. Today, more than metals, ceramics, paints and screws, at C&C you can find stoves, refrigerators, microwave ovens, coffee makers, blenders, besides the most different items of furniture and decoration - from double beds to wind bells.
"Home appliances and decoration items provide greater margin, of nearly 30%, compared to the 15%, on average, of the margin obtained with construction materials", explains the President of C&C, Jorge Gonçalves Filho that, besides starting the sale of white line items, has just created a "women client office" only to better understand the female consumers and cater to their preferences. "Women are already more than half of the public and, adding those women who go shopping with their husbands, their representativeness climbs up to 80%", says Gonçalves Filho.
That is the reason for C&C to become more home and less construction, which is a trend in the retail of the sector, according to the consultant Eugênio Foganholo. "The large chains are increasingly working with less basic items, such as cement and lime, which generate low profitability and end up being purchased in neighborhood stores", he says.
An insignificant share not so long ago, home appliances and decoration items today represent 20% of the sales of C&C - figures that have not been disclosed. The change in the strategy led to the adoption of a new layout for the stores, which start being organized by the areas of the household - kitchen, bathroom, living room, bedroom, balcony/garden -, following the "feel home" concept, with the setting of the rooms. It is, in fact, an idea similar to that already adopted by its rival Leroy Merlin and by the decoration megastore Etna.