“They even bought a wheel from this hardware store”: this is how parcels help small businesses survive

That changed when Alberto Torres failed to catch him on foot when the coronavirus came. “We’ve only been selling masks since we opened it 60 years ago. Look,” he says, pointing to a brochure that looks like an artist’s palette. “We have them in up to 16 colors. We’ve sold a lot for congregations and baptisms; people wanted to go together.”

The gate of the Angel quarter. Torres hardware store. Alberto is sitting on a stool behind the wooden counter. “Good morning, what do you want?” This bright-eyed man welcomes you, 82 sources think foamy, 60 of them are in the hardware store.

He says he’s already retired, who came to help his daughter Rosana and granddaughter Alejandro, but it’s in your blood.

Neighbors come to greet him, asking them about their daughter’s travels, the boy’s grades at school.

When a neighbor with a dog falls to the ground He pulls out a jar of candy from a shelf and hands one to her. Owners smile. “Come on, see you tomorrow.” After a lifetime in this business, she knows how to build customer loyalty.

a liter of milk

“Look, about two months ago, when the supermarkets started to run out, my dad gave me a liter of milk,” she proudly recalls. his father goes to the back of the shop. “There’s always something to do here,” says Alberto.

sorting boxes and delivery notes scattered here and there, someone arrives at this hardware store’s counter sometimes it looks like a giant Mary Poppins bag from which anything can come out.

As soon as you enter, it is remarkable to see dozens of light bulbs among the appliances, small appliances and hundreds of boxes of light bulbs on the left. accumulated packages, different sizes, some are on the ground because they are large.

María, a neighbor from the neighborhood who has never been to the symbolic establishment, arrives and shows her a code that Alejandro has read with a reader. The employee leaves to look for him and returns with the package. “Some of the T-shirts I ordered. I was very surprised that they arrived so quickly, in just 24 hours, and it’s rare for them to come and tell me to get it from a hardware store.” woman is surprised.

– You know where we are. for what you want.

Knowing Alberto, it’s not strange that four years ago she first said yes to package companies. delivery point (receiving)It is a model that has spread to the big cities of Spain and increased with the pandemic.

Workers from DHL, Seur, Ups or Celeritas, among others, use small business stores as delivery and collection points for packages when they go to the customer’s classroom and no one opens the door for them.

The company pays the seller between 30 and 50 cents for each package processed. An extra help that helps neighboring SMEs continue to resist the big chains and somehow minimally compensates them for the customers that online commerce takes from them.

“We estimate that on average a business can achieve about 300 euros for this concept; so they can’t live with it alone but it might be an extra help”, It draws attention from the Spanish Trade Confederation.

“Economically, it’s more profitable for businesses when they become a delivery point as well as a collection point, because that way they charge higher fees than platforms.“, add resources from the association.

“The truth is, staying is not easy, and it’s a help, an encouragement,” confirms Alberto, who named the hardware store on Montera street, the last opening of the four he once owned. .

According to grandson Alejandro, they can come. Delivering 20 packages a day, whether it’s on Christmas or Black Friday.

“As a pick-up point, we got a lot of good reviews on Google, a very good score,” said the three, whose smiles never faded. “I am always glorious, Except for one day when I wake up crooked”Rosa jokes.

Normally, the parcel They take it in the morning and customers tend to frequent the establishment in the afternoon. They take the opportunity to sell them other things. “It helps us increase customer flow,” says Rosana.

“It gives you the opportunity as well as selling them something else. We tell them we are experts in lighting. [venden por toda España por su atractiva relación calidad-precio]masks… now we have small appliances”Alexander explains.

While the star product of recent weeks has been the ‘lifeboat’, the DGT-approved V16 markings to put on the roof of the car in case of an accident. And Duracell AA batteries. “No one can sell them as cheaply as we do for 2.99 euros,” explains Rosana.

“We have everything in the packages we get,” Alejandro adds, “from clothes to televisions… when we buy a tire for a car”. Torres also has the feature of being a transit storage center among the services they offer. When a package arrives and the neighbor isn’t there, they hold it even though it’s the courier company. No service contract.

“The commission isn’t much, it doesn’t reach 50 cents, but it helps us promote ourselves in the neighborhood,” they confirm at an Ambassadors stationery store where they also offer this service. “It’s no use to me, only one out of ten people who come to buy a package smokes”, Comment Julio, the owner of a tobacconist on Paseo de Extremadura, assures him that he distributes packages only for the “fact of serving.”

In addition to the economic aid it can represent, “The main advantage of being a convenience point for businesses is that they attract potential customers to their businesses by increasing traffic and enable courier companies to gain visibility before these users, who would otherwise not discover his trade” Points from the Confederation of Commerce, which at one point came to cooperate with the courier company GLS.

From the group, “In just the first four months, more than 1,000 businesses joined a network of proximity stores belonging to a wide variety of industries and established in both cities and rural areas.”

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