With sales forecasted to increase in 2024, Easter requires significant logistic planning, comments Americanas' VP of Commercial and Operations

Americanas reveals the leasing of four refrigerated warehouses in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and Pernambuco for Easter egg distribution
ABRAS expects sales to rise by up to 15%

Leonardo Coelho, CEO of Americanas S.A.

By: SiiLA News

03/28/2024

One of the most important dates for Brazilians, and for people around the world, is approaching: Easter. Besides its religious aspects, the annual event holds significant economic importance. The Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (ABRAS) revealed that consumption is expected to grow between 13% and 15%.

As a highly popular player in retail, Americanas is conducting a logistical mega-operation in what Osmair Luminatti, Vice President of Commercial and Operations at Americanas, defined as the "Black Friday of chocolate", during an exclusive interview with SiiLA REsource:

"Due to the sensitivity of chocolate egg storage, there was a need to hire a specific logistics operator to handle all receiving, picking, and dispatch operations for these items. We rented four refrigerated warehouses in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and Pernambuco. This refrigerated operation in Pernambuco will be, for the first time, the starting point for the distribution of chocolate eggs in the North and Northeast regions of the country. With this organization, we guarantee zero impact on the logistics of these products and manage to carry out deliveries to stores and customers as planned," explains the retailer's VP of Commercial and Operations.

In addition to storage, Luminatti highlights that one of the major challenges lies in transportation. To maintain product quality, Americanas has hired refrigerated vehicles to supply not only its stores but also the 5,000 Brazilian municipalities within its delivery network.

"From this, and with a well-defined strategy, it was possible to carry out, still in February, the supply of more than 1,600 physical stores, also used as mini-distribution centers. Our national reach, with a presence in more than 800 cities, is a fundamental asset for our logistics network," he concludes.

Companies are anticipating a surge in sales

ABRAS's research indicates that Easter favorites also show growth predictions. Chocolate eggs with toys are expected to see an 18.6% increase in sales, while eggs weighing 100 to 185g are forecasted to have a 17.9% increase.

For Osmair Luminatti, Vice President of Commercial and Operations at Americanas, this time is eagerly anticipated by the company, which has been organizing since 2023 to meet the demands of the season. The company's growth expectation is 20% compared to last year.

"Americanas' Easter 2024 began as soon as the previous year's ended. The event is considered one of the biggest dates in Brazilian retail. Because of this, assortment composition work began in mid-April 2023, with supply clustering, which impacts the selection of suitable products for each group of stores and consumer profiles, along with scheduling the production calendar for D'elicce's own brand products and negotiations with the largest chocolate manufacturers in Brazil and the world," says Luminatti.

Mondelez, owner of brands like Lacta, BIS, Oreo, and others, also believes that this year's Easter will be promising. In a press release, the group expects sales volume to grow by 5 to 10%, just for the Lacta brand.

The entire production of Lacta's chocolate egg line was completed in the penultimate week of January, the brand reveals. From production, the "heavy" work of logistics, sales, and marketing teams begins, all in favor of the "magic of Easter”.

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