Kalunga plans more stores and new distribution center
Valor Econômico
Extra discreet and always reserved as regards to businesses, Kalunga ended up becoming one of those rare cases of the Brazilian retail. It is capable of growing even when it moves just a little. Last year, it opened only five stores, and the gross sales increased 17.5% (the sector grew 18%, including new stores, indicates the IBGE - Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). With 60 stores, the retailer has reached the mark of R$ 1 billion (US$ 568.2 million) in sales in 2010, period in which despite the expansion, the company thinks "was not that good", criticizes, without a sign of embarrassment, Roberto Garcia, son of the founder Damião Garcia. "We had bottlenecks. We sold very much and we were not prepared for that. We ended up having to rearrange our structure to handle it. But we have learned", says Roberto, beside his brother Paulo Garcia.
The two entrepreneurs feel they can show a little more than what they intend to do and how they intend to do so. Part of those new plans for the company is already coming out of the paper. The chain is putting up a land bank to open 20 stores a year in 2011 and 2012, with a planned investment of nearly R$ 1 million (US$ 588.2 thousand) per store. There are 22 lots already acquired now in States like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia and Parana. According to the front line, the plan is to more than double the gross earnings of the company in five years. Kalunga wants to grow 20% a year until 2015, leading the earnings to R$ 2.1 billion (US$ 1.24 billion) in five years. It is something that will come not only from the new stores, but also from the expectation of a greater demand from the corporate market, responsible for 65% of the earnings of the group.
There is also another movement. Kalunga is discussing the creation of a new model of store for the coming years. The chain is studying the creation of smaller stores ranging from 400 to 500 square meters (the openings planned for April get to twice that size). It is the ideal space for Kalunga to fit inside the new shopping malls. One third of the recent inaugurations of the chain has already happened today in such undertakings. "It would be a kind of" Kalunga Express "or "Kalunga Office", with the maximum product mix we can have", says Roberto, without specifying the number of stores to be opened in the new model.
Kalunga will open a new DC that should be the only of the chain in Brazil. It will gather all the stock - every month the chain sells 1.2 million BIC pens and more than one thousand tons of paper. The new land is located in Itaquaquecetuba (SP) and it has 61 thousand square meters of usable area, 60% larger than the two DCs together. "I think that gives us some tranquility for some 10 to 12 years", says Paulo. The investment, which starts this year and ends by the end of 2012, will be of R$ 50 million (US$ 29.4 million).