Retail label

Fall from the chain market
Facu
13 August, 2026

How much money does a company lose when it competes for price only?

Discount-based competition generates a direct transfer of profitability to the customer, weakens investment capacity and reduces trade differentiation.

In consumption and retail, the cost of this strategy often appears well before the fall in sales.

The margin finances business growth

In consumption and retail, each percentage point of margin represents the ability to invest in marketing, technology, purchasing experience, training of commercial equipment and channel expansion. When a company systematically reduces prices to win operations, it also reduces the resources available to strengthen its competitiveness.

The consequence appears gradually. The business sells more units, although it generates less profitability per transaction. This dynamic requires a growing volume to sustain the same level of financial results, increasing the pressure on the entire operational structure.

Price competition changes consumer behaviour

Today's consumers have more information, compare real-time options and take advantage of promotions in an increasingly planned way. Several studies show that a significant part of the purchases are organized around discounts and temporary benefits, strengthening a very price-sensitive demand.

This scenario generates a structural effect: the customer incorporates the discount as a permanent reference. The purchase decision loses stability and increases the dependence on continuous promotions.

The hidden cost of reducing prices

The economic loss associated with competing for price only rarely appears in a single indicator. It is distributed in different dimensions of the business:

  • Lower gross margin per operation.
  • Increased need for volume to achieve the same economic result.
  • Reduction of available resources for innovation and trade development.
  • Increase in permanent promotions.
  • Reduced capacity to build a differentiated value proposal.
  • Increased sensitivity to new competitors.

Each of these variables reduces the company's financial resilience to demand changes or cost increases.

The market rewards the value proposal

Companies with better retail performance combine commercial variables that go beyond the price. The purchase experience, product availability, logistics speed, personalized care, loyalty programs and brand positioning strengthen the consumer's willingness to choose a company even if there are cheaper alternatives.

The commercial strategy incorporates customer segmentation, cost-effectiveness analysis by category and intelligent portfolio management. This combination allows the margin to be protected without losing competitiveness.

Price as a strategic tool

The price maintains a central role within any commercial strategy. Its impact depends on the context, product category, target segment and company positioning.

The most competitive organisations use differentiated price policies according to specific objectives:

  • New client capture.
  • Inventory rotation.
  • Launch of categories.
  • Channel development.
  • Development of strategic segments.

Each decision responds to previously defined financial and trade indicators.

Profitability depends on comprehensive decisions

Sustainable growth comes from a balanced combination of price, value proposal, operational efficiency and customer knowledge.

In a context where consumers are increasingly comparing alternatives and promotions are increasingly placed within mass consumption, the ability to preserve margins becomes a competitive advantage. Companies and supermarkets deepen promotions to sustain sales, although this dynamic also increases the need to review the profitability of each commercial action.

The question relevant to directories stops focusing only on how much to sell and is directed towards how much value each sale generates for business.

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Cost-effective Retail
Facu
29 June, 2026

Retail Media: why retailers are building one of the most profitable sources of income in the next decade

The monetization of audiences, data and digital spaces is driving a new business unit within retail.

The Retail Media wins participation in large chain growth strategies and begins to generate opportunities for companies of different sizes.

The economic value of its own data gains prominence

For years, the main asset of the retailers was associated with the ability to sell products, manage inventories and develop efficient distribution channels. Today, a new source of value becomes relevant: information generated by millions of purchasing interactions.

Each search, transaction, consumer preference and behavior within digital platforms builds a volume of data with huge commercial value for brands and manufacturers.

This asset gave rise to the growth of Retail Media, a model by which retailers market advertising spaces within their own digital ecosystems, taking advantage of first-hand information about consumption habits and purchase decisions.

The evolution of e-commerce, loyalty programs and the digitization of customer contact points led to the development of this new business category on a global level.

The margins of the advertising business attract increasing investments

One of the factors that explains the accelerated growth of Retail Media is its impact on profitability.

While traditional retail activity operates with usually adjusted margins due to logistical costs, promotions, operating structure and competitive pressure, the marketing of advertising spaces has significantly higher levels of profitability.

Large international networks began to develop specific units dedicated to Retail Media with their own equipment, specialized technology and independent business strategies.

Companies such as Amazon, Walmart, Carrefour, Tesco and Target expanded their capabilities in this area, transforming their digital platforms into highly segmented advertising channels for suppliers and brands.

The trend reflects structural developments: retailers are increasingly active in the digital advertising market on the basis of their own assets.

The closeness with the purchase strengthens the commercial effectiveness

One of the most valued attributes of the brands is the proximity between the advertising exhibition and the purchase decision.

Retail Media platforms make it possible to impact the consumer at a time when the intention to buy already exists. This feature generates particularly attractive conversion metrics for manufacturers and advertisers.

The possibility of linking advertising campaigns with concrete sales results strengthens the ability to measure and optimize commercial investments.

This scenario drives a gradual reallocation of advertising budgets to retail ecosystems with the ability to demonstrate direct business results.

Technological developments also expand the possibilities of segmentation, personalization and performance analysis.

Competition moves to data and audience ecosystems

The growth of Retail Media incorporates a new competitive dimension within the sector.

The commercial strength begins to depend on additional variables to assortment, price or physical location. The ability to build relevant audiences, manage customer information and generate attractive digital environments becomes increasingly important.

Fidealization programs, mobile applications, e-commerce platforms and marketplaces become strategic assets to develop their own advertising capabilities.

This is particularly for companies with broad customer bases, high levels of recurrence and robust information capture systems.

The construction of data ecosystems becomes part of long-term strategic decisions.

Latin America accelerates its development in Retail Media

The region is undergoing an expansion phase driven by the growth of e-commerce, consumer digitization and the professionalization of commercial channels.

Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Argentina show progress in adopting Retail Media solutions in both large chains and specialized markplaces.

Technological investments aimed at improving analytical capabilities and segmentation tools begin to be a priority on the agenda of many companies.

The consolidation of own resources allows for strengthening income, improving margins and building deeper relationships with strategic suppliers.

The companies that develop these capacities generate new opportunities for monetization of assets that are already part of their daily operation.

Profitability, Recurrence and Commercial Intelligence

The expansion of Retail Media reflects a wider transformation within retail trade.

Retailers move towards models where information, audience and analytical capacity generate additional economic value.

Data management is of strategic importance. The quality of available information influences business decisions, inventory planning, customer segmentation and the generation of new sources of income.

The combination of trade, technology and advertising is one of the areas with the greatest growth potential within the sector in the coming years.

Organizations that develop a comprehensive view of their digital assets will be better positioned to capture opportunities associated with this market development.

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Facu
13 May, 2026

Consumer companies: the structural cost of relying exclusively on sellers

The trade structure in consumer companies is facing increasing tension.

The seller-based model as the only income-generating channel limits the ability to scale, reduces predictability and conditions profitability.

In markets where customer access changes rapidly, the exclusive dependence on sales force generates structural fragility that impacts the entire organization.

Trade unit and fragility in income generation

Many consumer companies build their sales channel on individual commercial equipment. This model concentrates income generation on the operational capacity of each seller.

The result is a highly dependent structure of personal relationships, manual management and informal monitoring of opportunities. Commercial information is fragmented and business loses traceability over its pipeline.

This dynamic has a direct impact on predictability. The company cannot project sales accurately or anticipate falling in demand. The volatility of income becomes a constant.

Impact on business predictability

Commercial predictability is built from processes, data and channel diversification.

When the income depends exclusively on sellers:

  • The pipeline is unstable.
  • The sales projection loses precision.
  • Financial planning is weakening.

Harvard Business Review reports indicate that organizations with diversified business structures achieve greater income stability and better foresight capacity.

The lack of visibility about future demand affects key decisions: production, inventory and expansion.

Limitations on commercial scalability

Seller-based growth has a clear operating limit.

Each new unit of income requires:

  • Recruitment.
  • Training.
  • Monitoring.
  • Maturation time.

This generates a direct relationship between commercial cost and growth.

Global consumer companies are migrating to models where demand generation occurs before commercial contact. Marketing, branding, digital channels and automation allow to scale without replicating sales structure in the same proportion.

Scalability is built on systems, not on individuals.

Direct impact on margin and trade efficiency

The intensive model in sellers involves increasing costs:

  • Committees.
  • hierarchical structure.
  • Operational costs.

In inflationary and price-pressure contexts, these costs directly affect the margin.

Trade efficiency becomes a critical variable.

Hybrid models that combine digital channels, distributors, e-commerce and direct sales improve productivity per seller and optimize the cost of purchasing customers.

Lack of control over the purchase experience of the customer

When the commercial link depends on the seller:

  • The customer's information is decentralized.
  • The experience is inconsistent.
  • Fidealization becomes dependent on people.

This limits the ability to build brand and positioning.

According to Deloitte, companies that centralize customer management through their own platforms and channels increase lifetime value and reduce dependence on commercial intermediation.

The company needs to control the relationship with the client as a strategic asset.

Lack of data and difficulty in making strategic decisions

Seller dependence limits data capture. Commercial interactions are not always recorded or systematized.

Without data, the company loses the capacity to analyse customer behavior, conversion rates and channel performance.

Decision-making is based on individual perceptions rather than structured information. This affects trade planning and resource allocation.

Global changes in the trade structure of the sector

At the international level, consumer companies are moving towards hybrid models. They are combined with digital channels, automation and omnicanal strategies.

The World Economic Forum and Deloitte highlight the integration of technology as a key factor in improving business efficiency and customer experience.

In Latin America, this process is moving faster in companies that seek to reduce operational dependence and gain income predictability.

Trade strategies that gain relevance

The change in the business model of consumer companies follows a clear overall direction:

Diversification of channels
Integration of e-commerce, distributors, markets and own channels.

Construction of prior demand
Marketing and branding as opportunity generators.

Digitization of the business process
Use of CRM, automation and analytics to improve efficiency.

Strategic customer segmentation
Prioritization of segments with greater profitability and growth potential.

Hybrid sales model
The seller operates as part of a wider trading system.

These strategies allow for the decoupling of the size of the commercial equipment.

Implications for consumer and retail decision-makers

The exclusive unit of sellers is no longer an operational decision and becomes a strategic problem.

CEOs and business directors face a number of key definitions:

  • What channels should be developed.
  • How demand is generated.
  • What a role the commercial team plays.
  • How predictability is built.
  • What a structure it allows to climb.

The design of the business model directly impacts on income, margins and business valuation.

Slide

Evaluate a commercial diagnosis

Identify blocks and real opportunities for growth.

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