Tag: Brazil

Wal-Mart eyes e-commerce in fast-growing Brazil

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Thursday it will branch out into electronic commerce this year in Brazil, where it plans to invest 1.2 billion reais (USD 722.8 million) to keep up with fast-growing consumer demand.

Hector Nunez, chief executive of Wal-Mart Brazil, said the plunge into e-commerce will be a crucial part of the U.S. retailer’s growth strategy in Latin America’s largest country, where an economic boom is lifting millions out of poverty.

“We’re … entering into new channels, the most important being e-commerce that we will launch in the second half of this year,” he said at the company’s international analyst field trip in Salvador, in northeastern Brazil.

Nunez, who declined to provide further details on the e-commerce project, also reiterated Wal-Mart’s investment plans to open 36 new outlets this year in Brazil, almost twice as many as in 2007.

“We will continue aggressively expanding all of our formats,” he said in a speech broadcast over the Internet.

The discount behemoth has been focusing on expanding its international operations to supplement its U.S. business, where growth is slowing as it saturates many markets and now operates more than 4,100 stores.

The Wal-Mart Stores segment had net sales of USD 239.5 billion in its latest fiscal year ended January 31, up 6 percent from USD 226.3 billion a year earlier, while its Sam’s Club warehouse store division had sales of USD 44.36 billion, up almost 7 percent from USD 41.58 billion a year earlier.

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FedEx Express Believes in the Potential of Small and Medium Businesses in Santa Catarina and Launches the PyMEx Program in the State

FedEx Expres launched its PyMEx program in the Santa Catarina State, after its success in São Paulo. Created in 2005, the program consists of a series of benefits such as seminars, workshops, discounts, etc. for the small and medium exporters to connect them to the global market.
FedEx Express Latin America and Caribbean services more than 50 countries and territories and employs more than 3,400 people committed to total customer satisfaction. FedEx Express LAC has acted as a pillar of growth for the region and continues its commitment through the FedEx PyMEx Membership program, the first initiative to partner with small and medium exporters by offering innovative ways to access the global marketplace.

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Panalpina introduces new airfreight service to Latin America

Panalpina, together with its partner Centurion Air Cargo, has launched a new service – Palmair – linking its worldwide network with Latin America via the Miami, Florida gateway.

Panalpina will offer a direct transhipment concept for destinations in Latin America.

Miami serves as both Centurion Air Cargo’s base as well as Panalpina’s gateway to Latin America for freight originating from Europe, Asia and North America.

With the new concept, the two companies establish a link between the Latin American connections of Centurion and Panalpina’s European Road Feeder Network with its hub in Luxembourg.

Centurion has subcontracted the first leg to Luxembourg-based Cargolux – also one of Panalpina’s major business partners. This set-up gives Panalpina total control of the entire cargo flow from origin to destination.

The main destinations served through the new service are Bogota, Medellin, Barranquilla (all in Columbia), Caracas (Venezuela), Lima (Peru) and Manaus (Brazil), amongst others.

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Express operators step up Latin America investment

Leading international and domestic express companies in Latin America have announced investment plans in recent weeks to build up their networks and add new services. Mexico and Brazil are the focus of investment.

DHL Express will invest about USD 112 million (EUR 72 million) in Mexico over the next five years (2008-2012) in new hubs, gateways, the domestic air network, the ground fleet, IT systems and other measures, DHL Mexico director general Luis Eraña told local newspapers.

Estafeta, one of the leading private operators in Mexico, will invest about USD 30 million (EUR 19.2 million) this year to expand its network, director general José Antonio Armendáriz told local media. The bulk will go on a runway extension at its hub at San Luis Potosí in central Mexico that will enable international flight operations. The operator also plans to add three small cargo planes to supplement its existing five B737Fs, and build new centres in Toluca, Morelia, Leon and Guadalajara.

In Brazil, private express company Rapidao Cometa announced earlier this month it will invest RUSD 32 million (EUR 11.8 million) in a 65,000 sqm new logistics centre in São Paulo to triple handling capacity there. The centre, due to open in the second half of the year, will act as a base for the company, whose businesses is mostly generated in northern Brazil, to expand in the south and south-east of the country. “In terms of business distribution by region, the company’s activities are disproportioned,” commented commercial director Américo Pereira Filho.

Brazilian express operator Mercúrio, owned by TNT Express, already announced at the start of the year that it will buy 100 trucks this year to expand its fleet, and will open new hubs at Rio de Janeiro, Fortaleza and Recife this year.

Meanwhile, Brazil Post has played down recent reports it might buy Variglog, the troubled Brazilian cargo airline, in order to build up a domestic air cargo operation instead of relying on commercial capacity. Describing Variglog as an “option”, its president Carlos Henrique Custódio told the newspaper Gazeta Mercantil that Brazil Post is also talking with four smaller airlines about “a new formation” to help its business.

Elsewhere in Latin America, TNT Express has started offering a new air service between Buenos Aires and Montevideo, connecting the two capitals each working day of the week. In Peru, Grupo Scharff, the local FedEx partner company, aims to broaden its portfolio by offering more FedEx products in the second half of this year. The company increased revenues 20% to USD 13 million last year from its FedEx-branded services, according to the El Comercio newspaper.

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Over 875 Million Consumers Have Shopped Online – the Number of Internet Shoppers up 40pct in Two Years

More than 85 percent of the world’s online population has used the Internet to make a purchase — increasing the market for online shopping by 40 percent in the past two years — according to the latest Nielsen Global Online Survey on Internet shopping habits. Globally, more than half of Internet users have made at least one purchase online in the past month, according to Nielsen.
Among Internet users, the highest percentage shopping online is found in South Korea, where 99 percent of those with Internet access have used it to shop, followed by the UK (97pct), Germany (97pct), Japan (97pct) with the U.S. eighth, at 94 percent. Additionally, in South Korea, 79 percent of these Internet users have shopped in the past month, followed by the UK (76pct) and Switzerland (67pct) with the U.S. at 57 percent.
Globally, the most popular and purchased items over the Internet are Books (41pct purchased in the past three months), Clothing/Accessories/Shoes (36pct), Videos / DVDs / Games (24pct), Airline Tickets (24pct) and Electronic Equipment (23pct).
Credit cards are by far the most common method of payment for online purchases — 60 percent of global online consumers used their credit card for a recent online purchase, while one in four online consumers chose PayPal. Of those paying with a credit card, more than half (53pct) used Visa.
According to Nielsen, online shoppers tend to stick to the shopping sites they are familiar with, with 60 percent saying they buy mostly from the same site. “This shows the importance of capturing the tens of millions of new online shoppers as they make their first purchases on the Internet. If shopping sites can capture them early, and create a positive shopping experience, they will likely capture their loyalty and their money,” said Paul.

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