Pandemic Forces Liverpool to Streamline E-Commerce

The pandemic, in addition to confinements and quarantines, has brought different mantras into our lives. In the retail sector, one such mantra is that the explosion of e-commerce platforms, predicted to occur within five years, is now a reality. However, these business units still represent a very low percentage of sales in the income statements of large retail giants such as Sears, Sanborns, El Palacio de Hierro or Liverpool, despite the double-digit growth they experienced in 1Q20. “Companies do not give much information specific to e-commerce because it represents a very low proportion of total sales,” explained Verónica Uribe, an analyst at Grupo Financiero Monex, to Expansión in May. This is perhaps the reason why Liverpool has focused its efforts on streamlining its e-commerce platform.

The quarantine, as Mauricio Braverman, Liverpool’s Financial Business Director, explained yesterday to El Financiero, has not only impacted traditional sales, but also the company’s logistics infrastructure, stock management and call center operations. “Liverpool was on its way to becoming omnichannel, but the arrival of confinement led to innovation in a more agile way and to the creation of new financing plans for customers, as well as new sales models such as ‘click & collect’. The pandemic meant a dramatic change for the company that required agility and optimal use of analytical technology,” said Braverman.

According to the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV), in 1Q20 Liverpool’s sales increased 26.5 percent over the same period last year and represented 9.5 percent of total company revenue during the first three months of the year. More spectacular were the figures for Sanborns in 1Q20, whose online sales grew by 450 percent, while Sears’ online sales grew by 387 percent.

After several weeks of shutdowns due to the confinement imposed by the Mexico City government, Liverpool, Sears and El Palacio de Hierro opened some of their stores in the nation's capital yesterday, albeit with reduced hours and restricted access. El Palacio de Hierro, for example, opened its units in Perisur, Santa Fe, Polanco and Coyoacan between 11AM and 5PM, a schedule that will be respected until Mexico City announces new regulations.