Between the first four-month period of 2020 and the same period of 2021, vehicle sales in the local market increased by 20%, a rise that is largely explained by the behavior of marketed units of cars and SUVs.
The Office of the General Comptroller of the Republic reported that between April 2020 and the same month of 2021, the number of new units registered in the country increased 2,634%, going from 117 to 3,199.
After several months of reporting year-on-year declines in the number of vehicles sold in Panama, during the third month of the year an increase of 93% was recorded.
The Comptroller General's Office reported that between March 2020 and the same month of 2021, the number of new units registered in the country increased 93%, going from 2,099 to 4,057.
Analyzing the offerings of a supermarket, department store or convenience store and examining what type of consumers frequent those establishments is key to establishing which chains a company's products should be present in to increase their profitability.
By analyzing large volumes of data, it is possible to combine information on the products that commercial establishments sell with details of the types of consumers that are attracted to the different chains.
Understanding consumers' lifestyles, hobbies, ages and the places they go to, in order to attract a very specific sector of the population, is fundamental to reduce the risk in the investments made for the opening of new specialty stores.
For some years now, the retail sector has been undergoing a transformation, which has been driven by changes in consumer habits and the rise of e-commerce.
Keeping online inventories as close as possible to their customers through the strategic location of emerging distribution centers, micro-distribution centers and dark stores is currently one of the most important challenges for companies.
Due to the change in consumer habits, the restrictions imposed by the pandemic and the popularization of online commerce, companies are busy optimizing their distribution channels for Internet sales.
In El Salvador during last year, sales of new vehicles decreased 24%, a drop that can be explained by the closing of borders, the technical stoppage of plants worldwide and home quarantines decreed due to the outbreak of covid-19.
According to businessmen in the sector, in the context of the economic and sanitary crisis, sales of sedan-type vehicles were the most affected. This decline was mitigated by the performance of commercial vehicle sales.
Given the economic crisis generated by the covid-19 outbreak, nine out of ten companies operating locally reduced their revenues and one out of three made temporary closures.
Between May and August 2020, a COVID-19 section was included in the Directory of Businesses and Establishments (DEE) as part of the update, in order for businesses to indicate what the main effects of the pandemic were.
DÚ, a digital platform that allows passengers to make online purchases at the Juan Santamaria Airport, began operating on February 22 at the air terminal.
The new "marketplace" platform operates on the website www.dushop.cr and for the moment only offers products from Britt Café Bakery and Britt Shop Costa Rica, of Morpho Travel Retail.
After the Costa Rican government announced that they are evaluating the option of lifting as of March the sanitary measure that restricts the free circulation of vehicles on weekends, the trade union of the commercial sector considers that this would be a great relief for the economy.
On Sunday night, the government informed that it is analyzing the elimination of the traffic restriction applied on weekends.
Because several construction projects were stopped due to the pandemic, residential remodeling work became an important source of income for hardware stores competing in the Costa Rican market.
The spread of covid-19 forced the Costa Rican authorities to impose restrictions on productive activities, one of which was construction, a sector that paralyzed several investments being made in 2020.
Although in Costa Rica during December 2020 most businesses increased their sales by about 10%, the expectations of the sector's entrepreneurs for the first quarter of 2021 are still uncertain.
The year 2020 was marked by an economic crisis, which was generated by the outbreak of covid-19 at a global level. In this context, the Costa Rican commercial sector managed to oxygenate its finances with the end of the year celebrations.
The restriction to vehicle circulation and the need to play sports during the quarantine decreed due to the covid-19 outbreak, are some of the factors that boosted the purchase of bicycles in the Costa Rican market.
Figures from the National Customs Service of the Ministry of Finance show that between January and November 2019 and the same period in 2020, bicycle imports increased by 11%.
Although sales are not expected to exceed those of the 2019 Christmas season, businesses expect revenues to be robust in the context of the pandemic, a situation that could be enhanced by the dynamism of digital channels.
The spread of covid-19 generated an economic crisis, which for most of 2020 significantly affected the commercial sector. Despite the fact that in the context of the new business reality and changing consumer habits, commercial establishments are still in the process of adapting, there is optimism among businesspeople regarding end-of-year sales.
In the context of the economic crisis that Costa Rica is going through due to the pandemic, businessmen from the commercial sector reported that the "Black Friday" sales of 2020 were similar to those of 2019.
Despite the drop in commercial activity generated by the covid-19 outbreak, executives of the Chamber of Commerce reported that sales reached an acceptable level, which can be explained, in part, by the commercial strategies applied by the establishments.
Food, beverages, liquor, household and personal care items are the categories that are expected to drive the rise in consumption levels in Central America during the last month of the year.
Despite the fact that 2020 has been a complex year for all business sectors, due to the covid-19 outbreak that generated a serious economic crisis in all Central American countries, sales are expected to increase considerably in December.