Sodas are the best seller and the hook in stores

Soft drinks are what is sold the most in stores, especially in Guayaquil, while one of the main products in Quito is bread, in the capital “if you don’t sell bread, business won’t work”. This is shown by experience and measurements on purchasing behavior.

The average number of products purchased per transaction in stores in Ecuador is 1.5 and the average value of that purchase is $ 1.83. These numbers are adjusted during the year on special dates, such as Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day or Christmas, according to a study by Dichter & Neira, a market research company.

The most sold in stores are soft drinks, and as segments are processed foods and non-alcoholic beverages.

Home market purchases, a trend that continues and is on the rise

The company shows that, at the level of category baskets, the top 5 most purchased in this channel is made up of:

1. Processed foods.
2. Non-alcoholic beverages.
3. Fruits and vegetables.
4. Home care.
5. Meats, chicken and sausages.

And if we break down these baskets into categories, the top 10 nationwide with the highest transactions in neighborhood stores is:

1. Sodas
2. Snacks.
3. Bottled water.
4. Cigarettes
5. Sweet cookies.
6. Leche UHT.
7. Juices and nectars.
8. Edible oils.
9. Ice creams and popsicles.
10. Isotonic drinks.

Guido Varela, director of the Ecuadorian Network of Shopkeepers, includes bread and beer on that list. And you are surprised that cigarettes are above milk. For this reason, it indicates that consumption habits or products will change depending on the city and the area where the information is being collected.

“Soft drinks are something that generates traffic for you and they are undoubtedly very important” for the traditional channel of stores because they are a hook for buying other things.

Those are the cross-selling and it was also analyzed in the study through the analysis of the composition of the ticket shopping. This is how it was identified which categories travel together in the same purchase act:

• When they buy soda, they generally travel in this same purchase snacks and bottled water.
• When you buy sugar, instant coffee and milk usually travel.
• When you buy a toothbrush, toothpaste and soda usually travel with you.
• When yogurt is bought, they usually travel snacks and sodas.
• When calling cards are bought, soda and cigarettes usually travel.

The buyers of this traditional channel make very punctual purchases and, to a large extent, for immediate consumption. That is a conclusion of the study based on the information obtained: “The Ecuadorian buys an average of 1.4 categories when visiting a store. 73% of purchases are concentrated in a single category per visit, 23% correspond to the purchase of 2 or 3 categories, and only 4% of purchases are of 4 or more categories ”.

The traditional channel, specifically the neighborhood stores, is the place through which thousands of shoppers get their products daily. In Latin America, stores are usually very frequented places to make purchases and are an important point due to their proximity, convenience, familiarity, immediacy and accessibility, says Dichter & Neira.

Fear and little information affected the stores; 50% of them closed

Although the current situation worries shopkeepers. It is not the same as before, or in the first months, of the pandemic. Now they see the effects of the expansion of the micro-markets, the lower purchasing power of the housewife and greater competition among the unemployed who open their store as an enterprise.

For this reason, the Ecuadorian Network of Shopkeepers seeks support from the Ministry of Production to strengthen the stores and prepare them for the new reality and also offers training and advice for those who choose this self-employment at ww.ret.ec.

Varela comments that there are those who invest their savings in this type of business and without knowledge they can lose it, hence the importance of support. “When you kill a neighborhood store, you are leaving a home without a job.” (I)