Brazilian steelmakers are investing in retail stores to increase sales, according to a media report from Valor. There are reportedly 148,000 civil construction stores in Brazil, which account for 30 percent of the nation’s domestic steel industry’s long steel sales within the distribution chain.
Gerdau and ArcelorMittal Brazil are reaching out to retailers to boost domestic steel sales. Gerdau expects to meet the demand of 50,000 stores by 2023 by selling them steel products directly. Currently, Gerdau has over 11,000 civil construction stores as clients.
“Our goal is to support 20,000 stores by 2020 and then 50,000 by 2023. Before that strategy, we had been present through the big distributors, which are about 3,000. Now, we’re going directly to the small (steel product retailers),” Gerdau CEO Gustavo Werneck said.
On the other hand, ArcelorMittal Brazil is increasing its own network of stores, and is also selling steel products like rebar online, through an e-commerce site.
ArcelorMittal Brazil has a network of 32 stores, out of which nine are ArcelorMittal Brazil-labeled. The company said 60 percent of its steel products go to domestic distributors, while an additional 4 percent go to these smaller retailers.