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Wal-Mart On The Offensive
The
giant U.S. retailer Wal-Mart is
getting ready to open its two
new superstores by mid-July,
ushering a new era in retailing
in Costa Rica.
The two new stores located in
Escazú and Cartago will have the
name "Hipermas" on the outside,
but Wal-Mart Costa Rica
officials assures that the
inside will be similar to the
megastores in the United States.
When plans were announced for
the megastores or "hipermercados"
in Spanish, the company had said
it would brand the stores with
its trademark. However, as the
stores are close to opening,
company officials have decided
to keep the local brand name.
In its aggressive marketing
style, Wal-Mart had decided to
exploit the established trade
names "Mas x Menos, Palí and
Hipermas" for their familiarity
in the Costa Rican retail
market.
The two new stores, each
comprising 30.000 square metres
(332,900 square feet) are the
largest retail stores in the
country, costing some us$30
million dollars and employing
1.200 people directly and
another 7.900 indirectly.
Inside the stores, consumers
will be able to find brand names
and items that were not
available before and at lower
prices than competing retailers.
The objective of Wal-Mart is to
offer the lowest prices in the
marketplace, similar to its
practices in other countries.
One of the challenges facing the
company was to standardize
procedures in the five Latin
countries that make up the
group. To achieve the goal, the
group created a board of
directors made up of local,
regional and international
partners, who all report to
Ingancio Pérez, who was
appointed president of CEO.
Pérez was in charge of Wal-Mart
operations in Mexico and
Argentina and now will united
the five countries of Central
America - Costa Rica, Nicaragua,
Honduras, Guatemala and El
Salvador that make up the group
with the purchase of Corporación
de Supermercados Unidos
and La Fragua, in 2005.
Unidos, founded in Costa Rica
and La Frauga were two companies
that made up the Central
American Retail Holding Company
of which Wal-Mart bought a 51%
share.
Through a system called Global
Procurement which was created by
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in 2002,
the company manages the import
business and factory direct
purchasing, identifying new
suppliers, sourcing new prodcuts
and building partnerships with
existing suppliers, managing the
global supply chain, allowing
Wal-Mart tremendous purchasing
power.
Pérez said that in keeping with
company policy, Wal-Mart expects
to buy us$300 million dollars
from local suppliers this year.
Some brand names that can
only be found in Wal-Mart (and
Hipermas, Mas x Menos) stores
are: Durabrand, Konka, Brittany,
Ol'Roy, Simply Basci and
Athletic Works.
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The Escazú Wal-Mart store is getting ready to open.
Though it will have the "Hipermas" name on the outside,
company execs say the store will be typical of U.S.
stores on the inside.
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