Since 2017, commercial activity in Costa Rica has been slowing down, but with the closures of businesses due to the covid-19 outbreak, between March and July of this year, sales have fallen considerably.
In this context of restrictions on movement and social distancing measures, which began in March of this year, approximately 30% of shops were reported to have closed and it is estimated that just in July, sales in the commercial sector fell by 68% compared to the same month in 2019.
Turn-Key Fruit and Vegetable Frozen Food Plant for sale.
Turn-Key Fruit and Vegetable Frozen Food Plantfor sale in Sebaco, Nicaragua (the vegetable growing region). Business with equipment located in a free zone, all free zone certifications in place and ready to operate.
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.
How many people live around a shopping center, how old they are, what is their consumption level and what products or services they are looking for, are some of the questions that can be answered with the new geomarketing tools.
Measuring the potential demand of micro markets, based on the evaluation of the environment of a shopping center and its comparison with other similar sales points, has become essential to design adequate commercial strategies.
Given the gradual return to physical stores, customers will appreciate it if businesses disinfect stores several times a day, if other visitors are required to clean their hands before entering, and if employees use protective equipment at all times.
Although in this context of the spread of covid-19, digital channels have gained ground in Central American markets and this trend is expected to continue in the coming months and years, there are commercial establishments that will have to adjust their face-to-face sales strategy to the demands of the new normality, since there will always be customers who prefer to continue shopping in person.
In order to reach customers who, have great uncertainty at the time of purchase and to improve the unit margin of the products sold, flexibility must be offered in the cancellation conditions to increase the probability of successful sales, even at higher prices.
In difficult times, such as the current scenario generated by covid-19, the companies that win will be those that provide greater peace of mind to their customers, even if they sell their products at higher prices.
In the new context of accelerated growth of e-commerce, most consumers claim to have had problems buying online, with delivery time failures and lack of service for their area being the most frequent complaints.
From June 8-12, a survey was conducted in Guatemala to measure people's perception of e-commerce, which has gained ground since Central American countries decided to decree severe household quarantines because of the covid-19 outbreak.
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.
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.
Identifying and correcting failures in the logistics process of product delivery, while maintaining the satisfaction levels of their customers, who demand facilities to buy online, is the main challenge facing companies in the new commercial "normality".
The outbreak of covid-19 in Central America and the severe home quarantines decreed by the governments, caused the market to undergo deep changes and to be deeply and rapidly transformed, to the point of establishing a new commercial reality.
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.
So far this year, interest in e-commerce services in Central American markets has clearly picked up, with Guatemala, El Salvador and Panama recording the largest increases in e-commerce interactions.
Through a system that monitors in real time the changes in the interests and preferences of consumers in Central American countries, developed by the Area of Commercial Intelligence of CentralAmericaData, it is possible to project trends in demand in the short and long term, for different products, sectors and markets operating in the region.
Between February 2020 and Easter Week, visits to shops decreased between 40% and 90% in Central American countries, but since April 13 a change in the trend has been observed, reflecting a greater movement of people to shops and other businesses.
According to the "Information System for the Impact Analysis of Covid-19 on Business", prepared by the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData, Costa Rica is the country with the most pronounced change in trend, since as of April 12th the reported drop in physical visits to stores was 79%, while on April 17th the reported reduction was 57% from the levels prior to the health crisis.
As the economies of Central America begin to relax the restrictions that have been taken to prevent the spread of covid-19, sales of pickup trucks are predicted to be among the most contracted.
Using a demand-income sensitivity model developed by the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData, it is possible to project the variations that household demand for different goods and services will undergo as the most critical phases of the spread of covid-19 pass and mobility restriction measures are lifted in the countries of the region.
Between the end of February 2020 and Easter Week, visits for shopping or recreational activities fell between 40% and 90% in Central American countries, with Panama recording the largest drop and Nicaragua the smallest.
Since the effects of the crisis generated by the spread of the covid-19 in Central America began to be felt, and more specifically, since mobility restriction measures were tightened, visits to shops in Central American countries have fallen dramatically.
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