The growth of electronic commerce During the years of the pandemic, it led companies to propose new sales strategies and logistics solutions. One of them was the creation of Dark Stores, a very popular trend among supermarkets and retailers that, depending on the volume, could reduce logistics costs by up to 20%.
Yuriko Huayana, Country Manager of VTEX Peru, explains that the Dark Stores are stores closed to the public that act as micro-distribution centers in a certain region and were created as a fast delivery strategy that saves the customer time and as a resource to increase the profitability and logistics efficiency of companies.
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“Usually, in a distribution center, the logistics operator is responsible for deliveries in a certain city, whose products are shipped from the same warehouse, regardless of the customers’ address. In a Dark Stores model, there are several micro-distribution centers throughout the city to serve different areas. The selection of the products for each one of them is made previously based on the analysis of the local demand”explains Huayana.
Benefits of this business model
The specialist raises some advantages of implementing Dark Stores for an online store:
- More efficient operations: Thanks to the implementation of automated systems, the preparation and delivery of orders becomes more agile, allowing rapid delivery.
- Facilitates stock management: In physical stores open to customers, it is much more difficult to accurately track stock in real time. By contrast, ‘dark’ stores allow you to manage inventory and know its status at all times through automation.
- Availability 24/7: Dark Stores do not have business hours, but depend on the ‘peak’ hours of purchases. As part of their business model, they have multiple shifts, which allows them to operate 24 hours a day and increase warehouse productivity.
According to Yuriko Huayana, this strategy is adapted to the preferences of the consumer who is increasingly demanding, since he often prioritizes delivery time over cost.
Taking into account the success of this sales strategy in other countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France and China, among others, as well as the growth of digital consumption and transformation of companies at the national level, Huayana projects a growth of 30%. in the number of Dark Stores in Peru for the next 2 years.
