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Brazilian Retail NewsYear 11 - Issue # 402 - So Paulo, August, 29th, 2011

Phone: (5511) 3405-6666

Brazilian retail news 129/08/2011

Brazilian electronics chain Magazine Luiza is

launching a virtual store called Magazine Voc

(Magazine You). Customers can create their ownvirtual store selling Magazine Luiza products on

social networking sites Facebook and Orkut. Each

store can feature certain kinds of products such as

sports equipment, consumer electronics and home

furniture. Users search and select items on the

social network and can use reviews from chosen

contacts. When they reach the checkout stage,

they are re-directed to Magazine Luizas website,

following the regular purchase procedure.

Online retail sales rise 25% on Fathers Day Asics to open rst store in Brazil

Food franchises rise 16.8% in 2010

In Brazil, online retail sales have gone up

25% on Fathers Day, over the same period

last year, to R$ 675 million (US$ 421.88

million). Average sales reached R$ 340 (US$

212.50) and best-selling categories were Home

Appliances, Health / Beauty, Computing, Books

and Mobile.

Japanese sporting goods manufacturer Asics

is to open its rst exclusive store in Brazil, in

So Paulo, at high-end Oscar Freire street. The

company plans to invest R$ 50 million (US$ 31.25

million) and to open other 19 stores in the next six

years, advancing to be the third-largest brand in

its segment in the country.

A Brazilian Franchising Association (ABF) survey reports food franchises increased its sales by

16.8% in 2010 year-on-year, to R$ 9.2 billion (US$ 5.75 billion). There were studied 4,700 stores in

46 chains. ABF forecasts this year the segment will grow by 18.6%.

O Boticrio acquires minority stake in lingerie brand

Beauty retailer O Boticrio has bought a minority stake in Scalina, owner of lingerie brands Scalaand Tril. The size and value of the deal were not disclosed but the company expects the transaction

to close within the next 30 days. Scalina is one of Brazils largest manufacturers of lingerie and socks,

with annual sales of around R$ 400 million (US$ 252 million). Asset management and fellow investor

in Scalina, The Carlyle Group said the investment will help to fuel Scalinas growth.

Magazine Luiza launches launch social network stores

Shopping center sales shall grow by 22% this year

Figures reported by Ibope forecast Brazilian shopping centers will generate around R$ 109 billion

(US$ 68.12 billion) in sales this year, 22% more than in 2010, thus making the segment account for

15.4% of total retail sales. In the end of last year, there were 381 malls operating in the country, but

38 will be opened in 2011 and 47 next year.

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Brazilian Retail NewsYear 11 - Issue # 402 - So Paulo, August, 29th, 2011

Phone: (5511) 3405-6666

Brazilian retail news 229/08/2011

How the future is going to be

Marcos Gouva de Souza (mgsouza@gsmd.com.br), CEO, GS&MD Gouva de Souza

Momentum

In retailing, the future is the next quarter. And it all points to the fact the country will pass through this cycle of globalturbulence without major consequences or damages. And the reasons for that are the ongoing growth of the domesticmarket and the smaller reliance on foreign trade resources.

The country, however, is expected to slow down its growth, due to other factors, among them a lower consumercondence and measures to lower risks, specially taken by nancial groups, who always tend to overevaluate theconsequences of foreign troubles in the Brazilian economy, exactly as they did in late 2008.

Looking at the domestic spending, the high employment level and the income growth have been assuring the expansion

of the mass wage, the main driver of spending, specially when much stronger credit-restrain measures are not applied.Here there is a much different view from retailers to nancial institutions. At the slightest sign of economic turmoil,

the self-preservation instinct of the nancial companies asks for credit-restrain measures, with shorter instalmentconditions, increasing interest rates and harsher credit concession rules, working together to cool down spending.And, usually, spending is cooled down more than needed.

For the retailers, on the other hand, the approach tends to be the opposite, as, they tend to use credit to boost sales,thus expanding instalment conditions, reduce the value of each instalment and induce consumers to go shopping.When done properly without unnecessary risks, it helps offsetting the cool down of the economy. When retailers gowrong and are too aggressive, and the crisis go deeper than expected, History shows results can be overwhelming.

Todays moment in Brazil is way different of the international reality. The unemployment rate of 6% reported inAugust may point to a plain employment state, and the average unemployment rate this year has been in 6.3%, one

percentage point below last year. The trend of the rest of 2011 is for this rate to be stable, but it is feasible to forecastit dropping in Q4, due to seasonal reasons.

Another factor leveraging spending is the rising average family income. In July, there was a 4% year-on-year rise anda 2.2% month-on-month growth, repeating a behavior observed in the last years and that, even in the worst momentsof the 2008 crisis, has not shown strong retraction.

The Consumer Condence Index (ICC) is the only factor that changed direction recently, as in August it droppedto 118.7, in a 0-200 scale, falling when compared to the months before. In July, ICC had reached 124.4 points, itsall-time high level. As happened in 2008 / 2009, the media reverberations of the global economy turmoil and its likelyimpact on employment, spending and Brazilian economy were, for sure, the factor that affected the most the consumercondence, specially the longer-term expectations component.

Saved the necessary cautiousness, todays scenario tend to repeat, in a different scale, what happened in the end of

2008, when the consequences of the global crisis in Brazil were exaggerated by the media and by some nancial andbusiness leaders, echoing catastrophic forecasts of some analysts, and for some time the country stopped growing.As the catastrophic approach ran out in the media and the government adopted spending boost initiatives, the marketstarted recovering early in 2009. In the end, the economy had a strong growth that year.

Today, repeating 2008 in a smaller scale, we shall feel light ripples in the short term, but it all leads retail sales togrow slightly below the 7% range, a fantastic gure when compared to the global reality. Brazilhas been in the last fouryears among the top 4 countries in retail sales growth. This year, in Q4 the growth index shall slow down a bit, due tostrong comparison basis, as late last year sales rose sharply.

One can believe retails tomorrow will be as positive as the present and the recent past have been.

Brazilian Retail News (BRN) is a weekly newsletter published by GS&MD - Gouva de Souza with the most important news

on the Brazilian retailing. The content can be freely used, once the source is quoted. If you want any information on BRN or ourservices, please send an email to publicacoes@gsmd.com.br or access GS&MD - Gouva de Souza at www.gsmd.com.br.

Gouva de Souza & MD Desenvolvimento Empresarial Ltda.

Av. Paulista, 171 - 10 oor

Paraso So Paulo Brazil Zip Code: 01311-904Phone: (5511) 3405-6666 Fax: (5511) 3263-0066