Between July and October 2020 in Central America the number of people trying to buy home office furniture online increased 71%, and the number of consumers looking for car insurance policies grew by 8%.
CentralAmericaData's interactive platform, Consumer Insights, monitors in real time changes in consumer habits in all markets in the region and in other Latin American countries, with fundamental information to understand their behavior, new trends and anticipate eventual changes in their purchasing patterns.
With the accelerated arrival of the new commercial reality, consumers no longer divide the world between the physical and the digital, since now the purchasing processes are a constant succession that combines both aspects.
Due to the transformation of consumer habits that had been occurring since before the covid-19 crisis and that has now accelerated, companies are focusing on understanding how people decide on the purchases they make.
Understanding audiences and visualizing the client as the center and reason for the company's existence is fundamental to adapting business models to the new commercial reality.
The statistics, trends and projections that were used to analyze and define business models and strategies before the pandemic lost their validity due to the emergence of a new economic and commercial reality.
Verifying the new levels of demand, offering only basic products or services, and delaying investments as much as possible to recover cash flow, are some of the strategies that businesses plan to implement to face the new commercial reality.
Because of the covid-19 outbreak in Central America, governments decreed strict home quarantines and restricted most economic activities and the movement of consumers.
Sophos, a bookstore located in Zona 10 of Guatemala City, is a point that 15 minutes by car monopolizes a potential market of 239 thousand consumers, of which 40% are interested in books.
Using the Geomarketing solutions we have developed for our clients, CentralAmericaData's Trade Intelligence team analyzed the environment of some of the main bookstore locations operating in Central American countries. Below is an extract of the findings of the study.
Merging E-commerce models and face-to-face sales, through the implementation of apps that allow shopping in a physical store without going through the checkout line or selecting a fitting room from a cell phone, are the challenges for companies in the new reality.
In order to adjust to the new demands and challenges that arose from the covid-19 outbreak, at a global level companies are focused on understanding the trends that will predominate among consumers in the short and medium term.
Evaluating the commercial environment of each sales point of, for example, a bakery chain, is key to sizing the turnover potential of each location, a fundamental input for efficiently designing the expansion plan to compete in other micromarkets.
Using the Geomarketing solutions we have developed for our clients, CentralAmericaData's Trade Intelligence team analyzed the environment of some of the main locations of the bakery and pastry chains operating in Central America. Below is an extract of the study's findings.
Although in Central America the period of mandatory confinement has been exceeded, it is still a priority for consumers in the region to spend their free time in their homes and to devote themselves to household cleaning and home cooking.
It has been six months since the first cases of covid-19 were detected in the region. When the outbreaks began, governments chose to subject consumers to strict household quarantines, a measure that affected not only the economy but also people's behavior in the medium term.
The transformation of purchasing habits caused by the boom in e-commerce at a regional level, forced companies to accelerate the process of implementing their plans, because now they must enhance their digital strategies and change their business culture.
Given the need to understand customer behavior in the digital environment, together with the urgency for companies to promote remote work, an ideal scenario has been created for the demand for cloud services to increase exponentially.
The spread of covid-19 caused a considerable change in people's habits. Remote work has become a daily routine among companies in the region, which have had to adapt to the restrictions imposed since March, when the first infections were reported.
As part of the gradual reopening of commercial activities, an increase in the number of people who have moved to locations identified as supermarkets or pharmacies was reported in Central American countries during August.
Due to the quarantines decreed by the covid-19 outbreak, in mid-April the concentration of people in residential areas of cities reached its highest level, but in recent months this trend has been reversed and consumers have visited more stores. During August, the process of returning to supermarkets accelerated in most markets.
Starting in September, Hugo App will offer companies in the region an online store service, which will include a website, logistics, electronic invoicing and inventory management.
The new tool of the application of Salvadoran origin will be called Hugo Business, platform that will begin to operate from September 1st in Guatemala, and in the case of El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic, will begin in October.
The Colon Free Zone will hold a virtual business conference, in which companies will be able to schedule 15-minute appointments with companies using the logistics hub.
In the First Virtual Business Roundtable (RDNZonaLibre), 100 user companies of the Colon Free Zone (ZLC) will participate, those interested in doing business with other companies seeking products such as footwear, purses and clothing accessories, electronics, hardware, home, logistics services, perfumes, clothing in general and liquor.
Understanding the socio-demographic characteristics of the ideal client, as well as knowing their interests, desires, motivations and challenges, is fundamental for reaching the consumers of this new commercial normality in the digital environment.
The health crisis, quarantines and social distancing measures in the countries of the region, forced individuals and companies to accelerate the adoption of new technologies, which caused the digital to become the center of all interactions.
The abrupt change in consumer habits forced companies to digitalize their operations and sales, but the challenges do not stop there, as companies will have to implement effective logistics systems to reach their customers.
Recognized Brazilian company of backhoe loaders, telescopic, articulated and other types of cranes looking for companies interested in representing the brand and distributing their machinery in Central America and Mexico. The company manufactures and sells telescopic,...