Although dealing with a demanding and challenging market with several competitors, companies dedicated to the transportation of people and delivery still visualize multiple opportunities in Costa Rica.
The need to access more efficient mobility, changes in consumption patterns and the upward trend in the introduction of smartphones and the Internet, have created a business scenario in which the demand for mobile platform services dedicated to the transportation of people and home delivery, increases over the years.
Due to the economic crisis, it is expected that during 2021 the number of business alliances and company sales will increase, especially in the most damaged sectors, such as tourism, hotels, restaurants, entertainment, education and real estate.
The restrictions imposed by the governments of the region due to the covid-19 outbreak, has generated economic losses in most of the productive sectors, including reported business closures and increases in unemployment levels.
In a transaction valued at around $272 million, German company Delivery Hero acquired Glovo's operations in eight Latin American countries, including Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and the Dominican Republic.
Delivery Hero strengthens its position in Latin America, adding Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala to its existing presence, and further expanding its existing operations in Argentina, Panama and the Dominican Republic, the German business group reported.
In Costa Rica, a bill to give the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce the power to determine the maximum commissions and amounts that may be charged by digital platforms such as UberEats, Glovo, Rappi and Hugo was presented.
With the boom in demand for food delivery, Costa Rican restaurant owners claim that their companies have given up part of the profits to assume the costs of making alliances with delivery applications.
Since last March, when the first cases of covid-19 were reported in Costa Rica, consumers have been subjected to severe restrictions on mobility, which has led to transformations in the forms of marketing.
The opportunities derived from the habit of buying online, together with the current business scenario, are creating an environment where the offer of different brands of clothing and restaurants are brought together in virtual platforms.
With the spread of covid-19, social distancing measures were decreed in the region's markets, a situation that led to radical changes in consumption habits and shopping methods.
Reaching consumers in a confined scenario has been a complex task for companies distributing mass consumption products, since the operation of some of the commercial channels has been limited in the region's markets.
In Panama, companies engaged in the wholesale distribution of food products such as oats, beverages, snacks and others have faced challenges during the weeks of home quarantine, which was decreed by the authorities following the outbreak of covid-19.
Within this context of health emergency, the mobility restriction measures decreed by the governments have forced people to change their consumption habits, a situation that forces companies to look for ways to deliver the products to their customers.
In order to adapt to this new economic reality and derived from the outbreak of covid-19 in Central American countries, companies have been forced to rely on marketing channels that until a few weeks ago were not among the most important in their commercial strategy.
Glovo, a company dedicated to home delivery, opened its first digital supermarket in the country, through which it will serve its customers located in San Jose.
The company reported that the supermarket will be available in the application already accessed by its customers and said the plan is that in the coming weeks will increase the number of products available.
The growing tendency to order food from home through digital platforms is causing a decrease in business profits, as they must assume the cost of service delivery commissions and sometimes those of additional promotions offered by the applications.
Digital applications such as Uber Eats, Hugo App, Go Pato, Glovo and Rappi, which offer in Costa Rica the service of home delivery of food and other items, have gained much popularity among consumers, so restaurants have had to adapt their internal processes to this new trend.
The Uber technological platform, which in Central America is currently transporting people and food, is planning to expand its service offerings to the freight transport business.
Uber and Uber Eats, platforms for transporting people and delivering prepared food, respectively, are already operating in the countries of the region. However, the U.S. company's new bet for Latin America is to use Uber Freight to transport cargo.
The implementation of two applications used for home delivery services in Guatemala reinforces the irreversible trend towards better use of available resources through innovation and technology.
One of the applications now available is Uber Eats, which lets people place orders from different restaurants with varied prices.Another of the companies that has started up is Glovo, dedicated to the purchase, reception and shipping of several product categories.
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,...