The cash-and-carry model taught the market to operate big, simple, and cheap. When consumers incorporate the format into their routine, however, price ceases to be a surprise and becomes a basic contract. The next question is: what sustains choice when everyone promises savings?
The Problem Behind the Numbers
Scale without precision creates lines, stockouts, excess inventory, and an impersonal experience. Expanding assortment to resemble a supermarket can dilute productivity; maintaining extreme rigidity can mean losing out on convenience-driven shopping trips. The challenge is to evolve without dismantling the economic engine.
THE NUMBER THAT MATTERS
- Three out of four Brazilian households shop at cash-and-carry stores at least once a year. Source: NielsenIQ/ABAAS, 2025.
- The 22 largest cash-and-carry chains totaled BRL 330.2 billion in 2024, an increase of 10.45% over the equivalent group in 2023. Source: ABAAS/SA+ Varejo, 2025.
The numbers above are not interchangeable: each source works with its own period, panel, and methodology. They serve as converging or contrasting signals, not as a single statistical series.
Proven Fact, Observed Trend, and Hypothesis
Proven facts. These are the data attributed to the indicated sources and years. They describe the samples and periods studied.
Observed trend. A combined reading points to a change in basket composition, greater pressure on productivity, and the need to manage price, volume, mix, and availability separately. A trend is not destiny: format, region, and audience may behave differently.
Author's hypothesis. My hypothesis is that the next cycle will be less about opening new stores and more about productivity per meter, per employee, and per shopping mission. Those who protect simplicity while improving precision will build the new advantage.
Impact on Operations
IMPACT ON OPERATIONS
Every change in consumption ends in concrete decisions about purchasing, inventory, pricing, planograms, scale, production, replenishment, and service. If an indicator doesn't reach these routines, it has not yet become management.
- Clearly define missions for stocking up, replenishment, and small business needs.
- Measure the availability of items that shape price perception.
- Design services only when they preserve speed and cost-to-serve.
- Use basket data to adapt store clusters, not for invasive personalization.
Opportunities for Operators
Cash-and-Carry 2.0 combines reliable pricing, visible inventory, a clear store layout, a fluid checkout, and solutions for different types of shoppers. Private labels, well-executed perishables, and B2B relationships can increase loyalty without turning the store into a hypermarket.
Implementation should start small: select comparable stores, define a hypothesis, record a baseline, test for a sufficient period, and measure the total effect—including cannibalization between items, shrinkage, availability, and additional labor. Scaling without this design turns opinion into cost.
WHAT I WOULD TRACK
Revenue, volume, units per receipt, frequency, contribution margin after shrinkage, availability of critical items, and operational productivity. The priority changes depending on the focus, but none of these indicators should be read in isolation.
Questions for Managers
A QUESTION FOR THE MANAGER
- Which items must never be out of stock because they define the format's credibility?
- How much revenue and operational cost does each service add?
- Does the store serve families and small business owners equally well?
Conclusion
The transformation of food retail doesn't just happen in strategy presentations. It shows up on the loading dock, in the stockroom, on the shelf, in the price, in the line, and in the shopping cart. The role of leadership is to distinguish noise from structural change and convert insights into operational routine.
Sources Consulted
- Three out of four Brazilian households shop at cash-and-carry stores at least once a year. Source: NielsenIQ/ABAAS, 2025.
- The 22 largest cash-and-carry chains totaled BRL 330.2 billion in 2024, an increase of 10.45% over the equivalent group in 2023. Source: ABAAS/SA+ Varejo, 2025.
Continue This Discussion
- The War for the Basket: Supermarkets No Longer Compete Only with Supermarkets
- A Stockout is a Sale Your Competitor Will Thank You For
- More SKUs or More Results? When Excessive Assortment Starts to Cost Money
About the Author
Kesler Soares Pereira
Operations and Commercial Management Executive | Psychoanalyst | Human Development
An executive with experience in food retail, cash-and-carry, operations, commercial management, and people management. His analysis combines store routines, indicator discipline, and human behavior to transform consumer signals into business decisions.