With the last strong campaign of the year, Thanksgiving and Christmas, we will end this year, 2022, which has had great news in our Hispanic retail. If we look at the fully commercial side, the trend has been positive throughout these months, materialized in the sector’s commitment to organic growth in the short and medium term, although less risky than in the average of all industries.
In addition, this year, we have seen important moves by Hispanic retailers with large-scale acquisitions. For example, the growth of the Chedraui Group (El Super, Fiesta Mart, Smart & Final); Cardenas Markets acquired by the Apollo Group, and the significant alliances advanced by Vallarta Supermarkets to improve its customers’ experience in logistics and the online channel.
Also noteworthy was the entry of the Chilean group Cencosud as a major shareholder of The Fresh Market, a grocery company based in North Carolina. Other companies, such as Aurora Grocery Group, which I have the privilege of leading, have committed to strengthening their strategic commercial and growth plans for a fully sustainable organic expansion in the short and medium term.
Our Abasto Magazine has perfectly reported all this news throughout 2022.
U.S. Hispanic retail sales have grown by nearly 17% cumulatively in 2022. The growth of the retail sector for more than ten consecutive years is evidence of the consolidation of the household economy in our communities and the strengthening of consumer confidence.
This evolution has translated strongly into the need for employment in our sector. Throughout 2022, the number of Hispanic retail associates has grown by more than 800,000 across our nation. Undoubtedly, the boost in domestic demand and the intensity of job creation in the country have stimulated activity in the retail sector, positively impacting its turnover.
Most of the supermarket industry is benefiting from this situation. Over the last year, more than half of the companies have improved their status due to increased business in the market.
Despite the strong recovery and growth shown by the retail sector in the wake of months of a downturn, the outlook for future growth is becoming more conservative in the face of the drumbeat of a worsening economic recession. We must recognize that all commodities have skyrocketed in price and therefore hurt the products we sell in the aisles of our stores.
Most of us shopkeepers have opted to sacrifice trade margins so that the impact would not be even harder on the end consumer.
While we must remain mindful of the bad economic news and focus on expanding our businesses, the goal is potentially increasing our growth strategies. Most supermarkets are willing to invest in new products, marketing, and advertising.
In terms of new products, and without giving up our characteristic of being the stores with the largest multicultural food assortments available to all our customers, we must strengthen our position with an extensive private label offering. This way, we can offer our communities much more economical products without sacrificing quality.
With all these actions and our consolidated experience in the online business, the coming months in Hispanic retail will offer all the improvements and results we expect.