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.
In the region, it is estimated that more than 4 million people show interest in the digital environment for supermarkets, being Walmart, Pricesmart, Paiz, La Torre, La Colonia and Super Selectos, some of the chains that have better positioned in the minds of consumers.
An analysis of the interests and preferences of consumers in Central America, prepared by the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData, gives interesting results on the preferences and tastes of people in various products, services, store chains, brands and activities.
Does it make sense to keep doing surveys to evaluate, for example, the ranking of a brand, when all the real, honest, and unbiased information can be inferred from people's behavior on the Internet?
"... Traditionally, when teachers or business people needed data, they commissioned surveys. They obtained data in an orderly fashion, either in figures or in boxes marked on questionnaires.
In Central America, nearly 3 million people are looking to purchase a beauty service or product online, and 31% of these consumers explore options for buying makeup and cosmetic items.
The interactive information system developed by CentralAmericaData, monitors in real time the changes in consumer habits in all markets of the region, with fundamental information to understand the new commercial environment that has emerged in an accelerated manner.
Among the people who look for products and services available online in Central America, 20% try to buy electronic devices such as cell phones, video game consoles or cameras, 17% home and garden items, and 10% vehicles.
The interactive information system developed by CentralAmericaData monitors in real time the changes in consumer habits in all markets in the region, with fundamental information to understand the new commercial environment that has emerged in an accelerated manner.
Considerable investments in the digitalization of operations, the closure of small stores and the expansion of the commercial area of the best located sales points, is part of the strategy that companies are beginning to implement in the new context of business transformation.
Managers of large corporations agree that several companies were already making progress in digitizing sales and operations, but the pandemic ended up persuading decision makers of the need to focus on online sales, and simultaneously accompany it with a plan to transform physical stores.
With the reduction of advertising budgets, companies must invest in advertising on social networks, which must be complemented by organic traffic derived from content created on digital platforms.
The outbreak of covid-19 transformed the ways in which Central American consumers behave, as quarantines and measures of restriction and social isolation decreed by governments, generated abrupt changes in purchasing habits and product search.
Restrictions on the movement of people test the ability of companies to survive, since in the new business reality it is not enough to have a website to market products, as customers demand effective sales and delivery systems.
In early April, when Guatemala was just beginning its quarantine due to the covid-19 outbreak and the government began banning the movement of people after 4 p.m., some customers reported that the online sales systems of the country's large fast food restaurant chains collapsed in the face of increased demand.
Less impulsive and more reasoned purchasing decisions and the search for product and supplier information on the Internet and social networks are some of the characteristics of consumers in the new business environment.
Given the spread of covid-19, health authorities in Central American countries have been forced to restrict the mobility of people and have chosen to close most commercial establishments.
Fostering innovation when selling or buying real estate is a need that real estate brokers in general have identified among their clients, which they seek to satisfy through digital sales platforms.
According to the vendors' experience, the advantage of digital platforms is that they have the ability to store large volumes of information in an orderly and detailed way, which can also be consulted by potential customers immediately.
Reality check: converting customers doesn’t just happen by accident. These days, B2B marketers need to proactively engineer the buyer’s journey.
Your ability to convert strangers into qualified leads often hinges on your ability to “light up” where you want people to go next as you nurture them from Point A to Point B.
But doing so now is easier said than done.
Added to the small level of influence that social networks have on consumer purchasing decisions there is also the ever latent danger posed by situations where communication can seriously damage the company's image.
According to a recent survey by Gallup Inc. published by The Wall Street Journal "... a clear majority of Americans say that social media has no effect on their purchasing decisions.
"Users of the microblogging network do not represent real-world consumers ."
Although the network has now reached 230 million users, experts are warning that they are not a fair sample of the population to which companies want to target their advertising messages.
"Twitter is a place for people addicted to their digital devices, who are terribly worried about missing out on the latest tweet by Edward Snowden and are faithful believers that the world is interested in reading all of their publications.
Today, marketing has taken on a complexity that can not be solved by the traditional 4Ps: product, price, place and promotion.
An article by Antonio Jimenez in Elfinancierocr.com shines a light on an issue which before the globalized economy and the digital revolution was solved with the concepts of product, price, place and promotion.
Jimenez reminds us that "Merchandising is the final link in a commercial process, which of course, begins with the creation of a tangible or intangible good."
Beverage Industry Digital Magazine established in 1942, the oldest Spanish trade journal and the only beverage trade magazine serving the Latin American beverage market. It serves soft drink bottlers, brewers, bottled water...