The threat of Mercado Libre on traditional retail adds a new chapter in recent days, as the Argentine ecommerce giant confirmed that it plans to launch a virtual supermarket within its platform.The service, which is operational in Mexico and offers more than 20,000 products with deliveries in 24 hours, will be extended to Argentina and Brazil, where the company will continue to consolidate its online sales business in the face of Amazon's ravages that, for now, it deploys A conservative strategy in the region.Sean Summers, Marketing Director of Mercado Libre, referring to the project "Supermarket Free" emphasizes that they "are not afraid of the signature of Jeff Bezos." He points out that, strictly speaking, they already compete with the US in Mexico and Brazil and that in neither of the two markets did he have to retire defeated."They forced us to continue improving. They helped us to develop electronic commerce in the region. Nothing better than the competition," says Summers. And, as a prelude to this new move that puts traditional supermarkets in suspense, the company commanded by Marcos Galperín launched an aggressive discount strategy.Today, Mercado Libre already has a section similar to a pantry, called "Stockeate". There, it markets non-perishable products with promotions that reach 40% of the list price. It is part of the company's strategy, which tends to take advantage of its gigantic financial back to advance in new markets thanks to aggressive rebates.As background, it is worth mentioning his incursion in payments with QR Code, which grew in use and acceptance thanks to a plan that includes important benefits and that allowed him to add thousands of new users to the platform. Precisely, that will be the "workhorse" to eat market share to the super traditional.Does Coto and Carrefour tremble? For now, the big chains avoid the attack of nerves and bet to consolidate their own digital branches.La Matanza, key partySummers clarifies that the "Supermercado Libre" project is tied to the growth rate of its gigantic distribution center in La Matanza. This is the megadeposit that he raised in the Central Market area, replicating the full fulfillment scheme, similar to those installed in Brazil and Mexico.The establishment can classify, store and dispatch thousands of products from those who sell on the platform automatically and in record time, so that they reach the respective buyers in less than 48 hours.Galperín's investment is far from being random. Rather, it seeks to "mark" the field for Amazon in its advance in Latin America. In addition, the US firm maintains its idea of installing another Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center - its cloud computing service - in South America. More specifically, in Bahía Blanca, Argentina, where you already have the "papers in order" to begin your installation.But the main Amazon movement in the region occurred this year in Brazil, with the opening of its Marketplace for physical products, since so far it only sold digital books through its platform.In the case of Mercado Libre, the merchandise it contains in its megadeposit is outstanding and can beed: you have to look for the "Full" logo (followed by lightning). In addition, the service has "fragrance" to Amazon: the Argentine unicorn is advertising immediate shipments with a bar with points that mentions the package tracking system, similar to that of Jeff Bezos' company."We are achieving a 30% sales growth," they point out to iProUP from one of the companies that started selling from the Mercado Libre megadeposit. They also emphasize that the operation expedited deliveries inside the country.The distribution center consists of the following stages, generally automated:- Reception: products are received, classified and stored- Purchase: once a user purchases the item, the inventory is updated- Distribution: the product is searched, packaged and labeled with the delivery addressIn all cases, the merchandise is entered in trucks, so these properties usually have large beaches to facilitate rapid circulation, in keeping with the speed at which the items are processed within the plant.The "super" fight backAlthough the crisis hit strong in retail, industry sources say it served to make online sales progress at an accelerated pace and adapt to new consumer demands."Supermarkets is an industry in which five or three years ago we were selling online. Today they are almost all," Patricia Jebsen, manager of Omnicanality of Cencosud, tells iProUP. "Three years ago, on eCommerce Day or special dates, such as CyberMonday, the only one that participated was Jumbo. Today we have 250 stores with e-commerce, when we didn't reach 100 a year ago," the directive completed. From another chains they complete: "Today, the branch that sells the most is the digital one, with more than 90,000 orders."Some of the chains with the largest number of stores had to shrink "physically" and focus their resources on the Internet and reduce their cost structure. One of them is Carrefour, which lowered the blind in important neighborhoods of the Capital and several cities of the Interior. Walmart did the same in DOT shopping and sold 12 stores to DIA.From Walmart Argentina they indicate to iProUP that the firm launched "an app to make purchases quickly, easily and safely. This is another step in a strategy to lead through innovation.""The purpose is not only to offer the lowest price from Monday to Monday, but also the best experience for which the customer buys where and how he wants," added the Walmart executive, a company that also has its own store in Mercado Libre and has An agreement with Mercadoni.The latter company highlights iProUP that it is registering "an important evolution" of the e-grocery model, "an ecosystem based on technology that seeks to solve the operational and logistics complexity of home delivery of supermarkets."At this point, he points out that in this scheme "key aspects such as fresh and frozen foods, brands, offers and practicality are valued." Francisco Zoroza, Carrefour Communications Manager, agrees on this, who anticipates expanding his online store's assortment to food and beverages, among other products."Today we see that there are no consumers of formats, but they visit us with different frequencies in all of them: Carrefour online, Hypermarkets, Market, Express and Maxi", he completes.To fight Mercado Libre, retail chains take advantage of their branches as pickup points. In effect, executives ensure that half of online purchases are withdrawn from physical stores.Thus, users avoid the cost of shipping, which often makes the final ticket more expensive and discourages the purchase, something that the unicorn knows very well and invites its sellers to absorb this extra.It is not the only weapon they deploy against the ecommerce giant: they also appeal to delivery applications, where the cost for delivery is very low and delivery is almost immediate. In this way, they wove alliances with the following apps:- Rappi: Coto, Carrefour, Disco, See and Jumbo- Globe: Carrefour- Order Now: Carrefour Express, Día and Diarco BarrioIn this way, the supermarket sector picks up the glove and hopes to take the habit of buying in its facilities to the digital world. Or, as Jebsen sums it up: "The user who trusts a brand in the physical will also rely on the digital, because the products are taken out of the store."