12/23/2008 08h45
St Marche bets on eating well, at home
Valor Econômico - 12/23/2008
The world financial turmoil did not affect the expansion plans of the St. Marche supermarket group. The objective is to get to 30 stores in the country in five years, with three to five openings next year. The chain currently has six units in São Paulo, among them the sophisticated Empório Santa Maria, purchased in November of 2007 from the Expand Group. Bernardo Ouro Preto, one of the company's partners, has two arguments to justify his optimism. The first one is the same of other entrepreneurs who work with foods: this sector normally is the last one to suffer in times of crises. The second one concerns the behavior of its target audience, the high and middle-to-high classes. "What do I think is going to happen to this consumer? Concerned about the crisis, s/he will stop dining out three times a week to go out only once. On the other days, this consumer will have dinner at home, so s/he will go to the supermarket more frequently ", says Ouro Preto. "Besides, as people will neither buy a new home, nor change their cars anymore, they will treat themselves to the right of having small pleasures, like drinking a good wine". Not even the skyrocketing of the Dollar rate seems to affect the mood of the entrepreneurs, regardless of the fact that the imported products are responsible for nearly 20% of the mix of their stores. A great part of the stocks for the end of the year had been contracted before the financial crisis and the strategy has been to negotiate with suppliers in order to avoid transferring the cost of the new exchange rates to the consumers. The expansion project started in 2006 with the opening of the second store in Panamby, a South Side district of the city of São Paulo, has assured accelerated growth in sales. This year, the increase should exceed 20%, on an income of more than R$ 100 million (US$ 43.5 million). Ouro Preto's expectation for 2009 is to keep such growth rhythm. The plan of opening new stores in the next five years contemplates not only St. Marche's units but also those of the Empório Santa Maria brand, which should gain another three to four units.
