Keeping you informed of the most important news that occurs in the industry and in all the economic sectors that make it up is essential, especially when it comes to decisions that directly impact the pocket, reputation or experience of brands and their consumers; therefore, Merca2.0 allows you to obtain the best information to always be one step ahead.
MEXICO
Two Mexican startups join forces to conquer Latam. More and more companies are resorting to strategic alliances to share resources and experience to later offer more services to their clients, and at the same time, be better prepared to face today’s global competition. Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Mexico are some of the Latin American countries where the platform Threads coordinates communication between companies integrated into CRM systems, clients who, starting in September of this year, will be offered new payment solutions thanks to the alliance it made with the payment orchestration startup Retrypay. Both startups, of Mexican origin, created this union in order to strengthen their presence in Latin America. “Hilos solves an important problem by making it easier for companies to access and communicate with their customers via WhatsApp, for Retrypay this alliance is a perfect match because we help their customers to close a sale without having to leave WhatsApp”, commented Mauricio Madrigal, CEO and co-founder of Retrypay. This collaboration was born to offer a comprehensive solution to customers from these Hilos countries in the area of payment management, where the business model of the fintech Retrypay comes in, which offers payment links and various payment gateways integrated into its system, allowing businesses to increase their payment acceptance rates and higher billing. “For most consumers in LATAM, WhatsApp is the most important channel that a company can have. And for companies there are also benefits: in LATAM there is no better channel in terms of open rate and clicks. Simply put, what is sent is read by clients. Adding the Retrypay payment links to our automated flow editor is the perfect alliance: all companies want to get paid and customers want a fast, easy and personalized way to make payments”, mentioned Alfonso Lizárraga, co-founder of Hilos. This comprehensive solution, focused on Latam countries, seeks to help the companies of both startups to improve the services they offer to their clients and, consequently, increase their sales, in the face of the e-commerce boom.
Santander and Mazda launch financing for young people. Banco Santander México and Mazda de México announce the launch of “Mazda First”, new program that provides automotive financing so that more young people have their first car. This new financial program seeks to facilitate the purchase process for those who want to acquire their first car, build a credit history and probably do not have the proof of income that a traditional finance company requests; however, it is not an interest-free program. Mazda First It is aimed at young people between 18 and 25 years old with a minimum monthly income of $6,000 pesos without the need for them to be pursuing any specific level of studies. For those who do not have a credit history and/or their income is less than $6,000 pesos, they will be able to access Mazda First through a co-obligator (direct relative) and thus both must sign the contract so that the credit goes out in the name of the young person. Bearing in mind the profile of the client to whom it is addressed, Mazda First maintains the features of auto financing plans, such as a 10% down payment and up to 72 months, regardless of the model. “The decision to launch Mazda First Its objective is to offer young people the option of buying a Mazda in a more flexible way, adapting to them so that they begin to create a positive credit history and thus be part of the Mazda family. We are convinced that this will greatly help the expansion plans we have for the Mexican market and, more importantly, they will remember us as the brand that offered them the best alternative to get their first car,” said Miguel Barbeyto, president of Mazda de México. . In this regard, the General Director of Banco Santander México, Felipe García Ascencio, highlighted “we have innovated in the automotive credit market with our offer, and today we are taking a new groundbreaking step hand in hand with an ally such as Mazda, with whom we are united by conviction to go further surprising the market, this time to serve young people. With these innovations we have established ourselves as the number 3 player in automotive credit”.
IAB Mexico launches program for digital skills. IAB Mexico, the association that brings together the main brands, agencies and digital platforms in the country, launches the Microdegree in Professional Fundamentals of Digital Marketing, an educational program that seeks to innovate the form of online education. This program is born from the need to optimize the time of the participants who are looking for new options for continuing education, without interfering with their daily activities. This is why the Microdegree is carried out through live virtual classes over a period of 38 hours. Through 9 theoretical-practical courses taught by industry leaders, this program has the objective that the participants become certified profiles by the IAB Colombia and Mexico, by preparing them for the exam of the Certification in Professional Foundations of Digital Marketing. In this regard, Claudia Ponce, Education Manager at IAB Mexico, comments: “The Microdegree in Professional Fundamentals of Digital Marketing is the result of the experience of more than 10 years in the development of educational programs.
Sephora Mexico presents Hot Now FW22. Sephora, the favorite beauty retailer in Mexico, presented its launches for the Fall/Winter season in its 4 categories: Skincare, Hair, Makeup and Fragrances, on Thursday, August 11, one of the most anticipated events of the year was held, where the guests were able to enjoy many unique experiences and have a fun time learning about new releases. Some of the brands that were present are Biossance, AHAL, Morphe, HUDA Beauty, Martha Debayle Beauty Tech, Fenty Beauty, Moroccanoil, Bumble & Bumble, Lancome, Urban Decay, and of course their house brand Sephora Collection among others. The event was held on August 11, 2022 in one of the trendiest venues in Mexico City, General Prim 30, a Porfirian house that stands out for its architectural design and history. Sephora Mexico summoned 200 attendees, including influencers, content creators and the most prestigious and recognized media so that they would be the first to know about all the launches of the season. This event began at 10 in the morning, and so throughout the day they had different groups of influencers and media until 7 at night, all this so that each of the attendees had a personalized experience and attention with each one of the brands and categories. In order to get to know and try the different brands of the 4 categories, different activities were held with different brands. The CEO Mr. Darío Aguilar began the event with a warm welcome to all attendees and talked about the expansion that Sephora has planned for this year in the Mexican Republic, opening 5 more stores in the remainder of the year, and achieving that more international alliances increasingly enter the Sephora Mexico brand portfolio.
SCOTLAND
They give out free sanitary pads and tampons. This country that became the first country in the world where the right to receive free feminine hygiene products is protected by law. That’s right, Scotland is providing free menstrual health products across the country. From this Monday, August 15, tampons and pads are free since a law against menstrual precariousness came into force, the first on the planet in this class. The norm had been approved in 2020 and began to govern from this week. At the same time, a apps for smartphones call “PickMyPeriod”, from where distribution sites can be located. In addition, she said that it is even more important in inflationary times like the ones the world is experiencing right now.”People have to make very complicated decisions due to the high cost of living,” said the official. It must be remembered that inflation in UK it is among the highest in the world: 10 percent per year in July 2022. Scotland has already offered free pads and tampons in schools and universities since 2018.
RUSSIA
Zara returns to the shelves with a “bales” system. Many Western corporations interrupted activity in Russia at the beginning of the year, dragging income losses so far and reducing the value of their industrial property in the territory, since they cannot protect their patents and trademarks in the territory due to their protestant position against the war. Despite the physical and operational departure of the Spanish Inditex brands from Russia, a businessman from that country managed to sell products from Zara, Massimo Dutti and Stradivarius through the new “parallel imports” system. Six months after the fashion firm decided to leave the invading country as part of the commercial measures that seek to stop the war, the establishment Panika opened its doors in the city of Krasnoyarsk, a town with more than a million inhabitants. The businessman in question is called Alexander Gorbunov and he also owns a chain of hardware stores in Russia; The man saw an opportunity in a market where the Spanish fashion giant alone had closed 500 stores in support of Ukraine. Gorbunov found the clear business with which he has consolidated a wide portfolio of clients, focused above all on those Russian buyers loyal to Inditex. According to him, he has told local media, the strategy is to buy the clothes in the official stores of the brands and transport them to his Krasnoyarsk store; then it will apply a price increase to cover the cost of between 200 and 300 rubles per “bale”.
UNITED STATES
Walmart partners with Paramount+ for its premium customers. Walmart unveiled the platform streaming which will add to your subscription service and the fact is an interesting move in retail because how does amazon, offers entertainment service to premium subscribers of its platform. The announcement of Walmart fortifies the subscription model that has prevailed for years in digital, especially since Netflix opened the gap in its adoption of this resource, which has marked a unique challenge in retail, when Amazon unveiled a subscription-based content model on its platform. In this scenario, the decision Walmart obvious his bet to win a race of valuing himself more than amazonwhich today is the most valuable brand in retail. The projection of the signatures kantar, BrandZ Y Bloomberg pointed out at the time that amazon accumulated a brand value of 683 billion dollars, while Walmart placed fourth, after Alibaba Y The Home Depot. Under this scheme, a very important point is clear and that is consumer loyalty through subscription to an ecosystem and content is the best proposal around it. Walmart+ is the new service streaming to which users will have access premium of Walmartthe fourth most valuable brand in the retail and that has now implemented a subscription service, which in addition to purchase benefits includes access to content from streaming. The service that it will be offering will be the basic subscription of $4.99 with ads.