Anyone who accesses the Ricardo Eletro website looking for promotions from televisions to washing machines can be frustrated. That’s because on the website of what was once the second largest electronics retailer in Brazil, there are only a few random items for sale, such as an anti-bark collar, exercise mats and an electronic repellent.
According to the company’s president, Pedro Bianchi, this complicated reality is about to change. In the next month, the retailer – which is a brand of Máquina de Vendas – will resume the sale of the most varied items and of several brands through its marketplace, with a completely reformulated brand. And, in the future, it will return to its own operation.
“The company has reached rock bottom, but now we are betting on a total overhaul and a more digital footprint, but without megalomania”, says Bianchi.
To understand the company’s current situation, it is necessary to go back in time. After a series consolidation of regional retailers at the beginning of the last decade made by Ricardo Eletro, whose owner was the businessman Ricardo Nunes, the Vendas Machine emerged.
In addition to the main brand, the group had others, such as Insinuante, Salfer, City Lar and Eletroshopping. Revenue reached R$ 9.5 billion in 2014, with 1,200 stores.
However, with difficulties in absorbing the acquired companies and a digital operation well below the competition, everything started to go wrong.
In 2018 came extrajudicial recovery – thanks to billions in debt to banks and suppliers – and the promise that things would change. It was at this time that Bianchi, then a partner in the Starboard fund, took charge of the company.
The pandemic complicated the scenario of the already battered Sales Machine, which decided to close all stores. Result: the company’s revenue was dwindling, from R$ 180 million monthly in 2019 to practically zero.
To complete, for tax debts, Ricardo Nunes was arrested in 2020, accused of evasion, but spent only one day in jail.
Bianchi bought Nunes’ stake and the former owner left for the life of a coach.
During the pandemic, Bianchi decided to step down from his role at Starboard to fully focus on the Vending Machine. With that, his main mission was to renegotiate all the company’s debts, which reach R$4 billion, in addition to another R$1 billion in tax arrears.
The result of all this was that the company had to go into judicial recovery.
Gift
While this was being done, the company readjusted to the new reality. The number of employees – which reached 28 thousand – is at 40, with most working from home and some in the hybrid model, in a small headquarters in Contagem (MG).
The e-commerce system, which was its own, was replaced by VTEX’s.
With the new website, Bianchi is betting on attracting sellers by charging lower sales commissions compared to its rivals to face this new moment.
With this strategy, Bianchi estimates that the Sales Machine will once again have gross sales of R$ 120 million per month by the end of the year.
The return of physical stores is scheduled for 2023, starting with São Paulo and Minas Gerais.
“Although we have never had stores in São Paulo, it is the market that buys the most from our e-commerce. And we are also studying to return with some brands, as there are many consumers asking for the return of stores like Salfer and Insinuante”, he says. the president.
The information is from the newspaper. The State of São Paulo.
