The battle around e-commerce is increasingly evident. With hundreds of brands seeking to capitalize on the digital conditions left by the pandemic and quickly adopted by the consumer, firms such as Mercado Libre or Amazon have seen their competition grow locally.
The figures are clear on this. The third edition of “GS1 Barometer, SME Manufacturers of the Consumer Industry”During the contingency months caused by Covid-19, in the country, 8 out of 10 consumer companies saw their sales affected; however, the most affected were small and medium-sized companies.
The data makes it clear that for the consumer a range of options has been opened where the simple existence of an online store does not guarantee success for brands.
This premise has been understood by the e-commerce giants and right now we see a trend to optimize one of the aspects that could be crucial to win the battle: delivery.
At this point, it is fair to acknowledge the findings of a recent study by MetaPack, which detailed that 66 percent of shoppers define their preference for an online store based on the attractiveness of their delivery options, while 49 percent percent of them would pay more for better delivery solutions in terms of speed and convenience.
In fact, the numbers indicate that 44 percent of shoppers do not complete an online purchase as a result of long product delivery times.
More interesting is to consider that 30 percent of buyers do not complete an online purchase because the platform did not guarantee a specific delivery date.
In this sense, we have seen how some brands have opted to optimize these strategies, and now Mercado Libre has just made a move with which it hopes to gain ground in a key market in Latin America.
And it is that Mercado Libre has just announced the purchase of Kangu, a Brazilian logistics company with operations in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, in order to increase investment in its logistics network and thus optimize the efficiency of sellers and offer time faster delivery.
Although the brand was already a strategy partner of Kangu, from now on it is the total owner of the company whose service is used by more than 40 thousand sellers in the three countries where it operates, with more than 5,000 collection points, where more than half are located in Brazil.
“Kangu is already an important part of our ecosystem. The agreement will increase operational efficiency and capillarity, as we maintain our focus on delivering to Brazilian clients as quickly as possible, ”Renato Pereira, Mercado Libre’s director of Corporate Development, said in a statement, detailing that Kangu played an important role. during the pandemic, when order volumes increased.
As stated by both companies, Kangu will continue to operate independently and will be led by its co-CEOs.
With this acquisition, Mercado Libre seeks to strengthen its business area focused on the provision of logistics services for third parties, where the final goal is to reduce delivery times and expand the capacity of Mercado Envíos, its logistics arm.
It is important to mention that this business unit, during the second quarter of this year sent more than 230.5 million articles, which is 46.4 percent more than in the same period of 2020.