June 28, 2023
- Convenience point deliveries emit 83 grams of CO2 compared to the 229 grams of CO2 emitted by packages delivered directly to homes.
- NACEX, Eroski, Mattel, Culinarium, and Swarovski presented the challenges now facing the retail sector at a forum held on the EAE Business School campus in Barcelona.
- The rise of e-commerce has led to a transformation in retail, where online and offline channels coexist and "complement" each other, according to the speakers at the forum.
- A major challenge is to make consumers more aware of the importance of picking up products at a delivery point for greater sustainability of the e-commerce format.
The retail sector is an important economic driver in Spain. It now accounts for 4.7% of GDP and online sales have soared since the pandemic. However, the growth of e-commerce and home deliveries also pose a major sustainability challenge: delivery to a convenience or pick-up point results in an average of 83 grams of CO2 emissions, while delivering directly to homes results in an average of 229 grams of CO2 emissions, 63% more. This was stated yesterday by representatives from the retail industry at a forum held at EAE Business School in Barcelona, where Tatiana Valoira, director of the Master in Fashion & Retail Management, presented the study "Trends in the Retail Sector". The meeting was attended by Sheila Sastre, Director of NACEX.shop; Ainhoa Oyarbide, Brand & Communication Director at Eroski; Aysha Lezcano, Iberia Area Manager at Swarovski; María Arostegui, Customer Marketing Lead Iberia at Mattel, and Carles Montori, Operations Director at Culinarium.
Collection at convenience points accounts for more than 12% of e-commerce deliveries in Spain, so it has experienced huge exponential growth. "The consumer has to realise that receiving the package at home is much less sustainable than picking it up at a location close to home and at a time that suits them," said Sheila Sastre, Director of NACEX.shop. Deliveries to collection points by the distribution company grew by 93.91% during the year of the pandemic. Global e-commerce turnover is estimated to reach around 6 trillion euros by 2023 and to exceed 7 trillion by 2025.
However, getting consumers to want to pick up the package rather than the convenience of receiving it at home requires some incentives. "Pick-up at the point of delivery should be rewarded: the customer needs an economic incentive and an incentive in terms of sustainability," explained Carles Montori, operations director of Culinarium, a kitchenware company with 28 shops in Spain.
OMNICHANNEL
Pure players (companies present only on the Internet) are shifting part of their business to have a physical business as well, according to the report "Trends in the Retail Sector", published by EAE Business School in Barcelona. "The rise of e-commerce does not mean that business should only be about selling online. Today's customer wants an omnichannel experience, where everything is connected to provide a unique and personalised experience. We need to innovate and, thanks to technology, it is easier to find new channels," said Professor Tatiana Valoira, author of the study.
For Swarovski, e-commerce already accounts for 19% of its total sales. The Austrian company, which produces luxury products made of cut crystal, has been promoting its website, which "is not just a website, it is a representation of the Swarovski universe," said Aysha Lezcano, Swarovski's Iberia Area Manager. "We are sure that the future of retail is offline and online, with the customer being comfortable in both channels, swinging between one and the other. They are mutually reinforcing channels that go hand in hand," Lezcano remarked.
In the case of Mattel, the toy company, which has iconic brands such as Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Fisher Price, saw an explosion in the online channel during the pandemic, with an increase of 35-40%. "Now we see things balancing out again: the consumer needs the physical shop, the web is usually used for information and in our case they are super connected. It's a trend that's here to stay," said María Arostegui, Customer Marketing Lead for Iberia at Mattel.
IMPROVING THE IN-STORE EXPERIENCE
The coexistence of online and offline channels has also led retailers to opt for improving the in-store experience as a way to build customer loyalty. "What is changing is the customer. They are becoming more informed, more demanding, and more impatient. The shopping experience has to be very fluid and personalised, there has to be no friction," said Montori. Since the pandemic, Swarovski has made a 360-degree change in both shops and customer experience. "There are customers who book appointments to come to the shop: personalisation is very important to us," Lezcano said.
Eroski stressed that the company has decided to change the tone of the brand to reach new audiences. "We decided to enhance this closer tone in a very complex environment, with a proposal also designed to minimise the impact of inflation on consumers", said Ainhoa Oyarbide, Brand & Communication Director at Eroski. "One of our main challenges this year is food and beverage inflation, as this has affected the way families shop," said Oyarbide. "At Eroski we took decisions right from the start to make it easier to buy food at much lower prices, investing in margins so as not to affect food prices", explained Oyarbide.
ABOUT EAE BUSINESS SCHOOL www.eaebarcelona.com/es/
EAE Business School is an international business school, part of “Planeta Formación y Universidades”, with a cutting-edge and innovative vision for addressing the challenges of the 21st century. More than 80,000 students of more than 100 different nationalities have been educated and trained at EAE. It has a teaching staff of 500 (35% international), most of whom combine their professional and academic activities. The school has international partnerships with prestigious institutions such as Babson College, and U.C Berkeley Extension, among others.
In its commitment to the professional development of its students, EAE Business School has managed more than 2,000 job offers this year, thanks to a network of collaborating companies. This data has allowed EAE to increase the insertion rate for its students and the ROI of its master's degrees, for which it has been recognised in the Bloomberg and QS international rankings.
“Planeta Formación y Universidades”, Grupo Planeta's international higher education network, has twenty-two educational institutions in Spain, Andorra, France, Italy, North Africa, the United States and Colombia. Every year, more than 120,000 students of 114 different nationalities are educated at its business schools, universities, colleges, and vocational training centres.
About NACEX www.nacex.com
NACEX, which offers a wide range of services, is part of Logista, the leading distributor of products and services to local businesses in Southern Europe. NACEX has a fleet of over 2,500 vehicles and more than 3,500 collaborators, as well as a network of 33 hubs, over 300 franchises in Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and Benelux, and more than 2,700 NACEX.shop points in Spain and Portugal.
Sobre Logista www.logista.com
Logista is one of the largest logistics operators in Europe and specialises in distribution to proximity channels. It regularly provides a service to over 200,000 points of sale in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Benelux, and Poland, and facilitates the best and fastest access to the market for a wide range of convenience, electronic top-up, pharmaceutical, book, publication, tobacco, and lottery products, among others.
In addition, it stands out for being the largest transport network in Spain that is also certified in food safety.
Logista counts on a team of highly qualified professionals, made up of 7,000 direct employees and 15,000 collaborators, focussed on providing service to their clients in the most efficient way and adapting to their needs.