Focusing on the interior of SP, Cybelar search the half a billion
Valor Econômico
Owner of 86 shops in the interior, the chain founded in 1952 by the cabinet-maker Angelo Pasquotto has managed to grow outside the national retail giants betting on the nearness with the customers. President Ubirajara Pasquotto, Angelo´s son, has as his strategy just to open up shops in "smaller cities, not small towns" with up to 120 thousand inhabitants. Some exceptions are made in municipalities where the consumer market is justified, as Marília, with 220 thousand inhabitants, considered a college town. With R$ 400 million (US$ 227.3 million) in earnings and 17 new stores in 2010, Pasquotto plans sales 25% higher this year, reaching half a billion dollars, besides to stretching the chain in over 20 points of sale, with investments of R$ 12 million (US$ 7.1 million). Among the goals of the retailer, which employs 18 thousand people, are also the première of the e-commerce operation in the second half and the expansion of distribution center (DC), which is expected to double to 30 thousand m2 still this year. The expansion of the DC should consume R$ 25 million (US$ 14.7 million), part of that Pasquotto studies to obtain from BNDES.
The importance of plant roots in small town is in creating relationships. "I cannot work with any brand, which will go bankrupt tomorrow and let the client down, because s/he trusts in what s/he gets here", says Pasquotto. The big competitors, he says, do not have such vision. "While the competition is working that way [impersonally] we will have a market". The very Tiete, headquarters of Cybelar, is an example. Three years ago, Casas Bahia landed in the city, where it spent just 13 months and closed. The consumer loyalty can be seen in sales figures: 70% of the earnings comes from the installment plan, operation in which the customer must return to the store every month to pay the bill. It is possible to parcel in up to 16 times, with interest at 5.9% per month. The default rate is 5% of sales, counting from one month delay in payment.
The movement of concentration in the Brazilian retail market, which led to the current giants, seems not to scare the entrepreneur. "No industry wants to be in the hands of three or four chains", he says. "The negotiation with suppliers became easier, they respect us more". The industry returned the compliment. "Cybelar is booming in the west region of São Paulo [where it get some stores of Ponto Certo from Mato Grosso do Sul] and respects the agreements more than the big chains", says one source of the electrical appliances sector.
An example of its close collaboration with industry is in the partnership with Samsung: someone who buys a cell phone of the brand at Cybelar gains from R$ 200 (US$ 117.6) to R$ 500 (US$ 294.1) discount if s/he brings the old appliance for disposal. The chain also launched, little more than four months ago, a program of collection and disposal of electronic products in all its stores. Now, the biggest challenge of the eldest son of Angelo Pasquotto is to grow while maintaining the intimacy with the consumer. "We have stores where the manager is invited to the wedding of the son of the consumer, who bought the white line at the store", says Pasquotto, troubled by the fact of knowing "photo-only" five of his new stores.