I need to retract a previous statement: I was under the impression that since it was Labor day in Mexico last Tuesday, that we had off. This was not the case at all. While most people in Mexico did have off on Tuesday, the Autoservicio Channel did not, and that just so happened to be the channel we were in. I know right, lucky us.
The Autoservicio channel is more of what I am used to. They are your typical Supermarkets that you can find in the states. However, the process to service the stores are completely different. In the states, we have one vendor that delivers the product, checks it in, merchandises it, and moves onto his next store. In Mexico, all the jobs are specialized. (Cliff note version of the process) There is a driver (chofer), that delivers the product, the vendor, who checks the product in and does the orders, and the promotor (merchandiser), who puts the product up. Also, instead of the vendor going to a bunch of stores, they spend the entire day in just one store or possible have one other store.
I spent my week in a Wal-Mart, which was perfectly fitting since I spend a lot of time in Wal-Mart in the US. The Wal-Mart that I was in does the most sales in Guadalajara. It isn't a huge store, but it has a lot of foot traffic. Plus, when you have close to 0 competition, it makes it pretty easy to sell product. Bimbo seriously runs this store. The bread/cake isle is 36 feet long and we have all but two feet of it. Not to mention almost all of the 8 foot tortilla section, space in the cookie section, breakfast section, and candy and gum section, space at the front registers, strips that hang from the shelves with product on them, 21 wire rack displays that are set up all over the store, 2 pallet drops of cookies, and a partridge in a pear tree. All this while the store is going through a re-model. It is pretty incredible. Even with all that space, the return percentage is only (if you work for BBU, you might want to sit down) less that 2%!!! When the Supervisor told me that I almost fainted.
Since this store does so much volume and has so many displays, there are two promotores in the store all day. They were both pretty young too; Marco, 19 and Anna, 20. These guys are good though. Our shelves and displays are full every moment of everyday. Of course with three people in the store all day, our service is impeccable and unmatched. Pretty much every major DSD company has vendors or merchandisers there all day. It is quite the change up from the US where the vendor goes to a store and tries to get it done as quickly as possible because he has 7 other stores to go to. Also, competition (and monopoly laws) has a major impact on what we are able to do in the states as apposed to Mexico. Either way, I was pretty impressed with the whole thing.
The street vendor place we went for lunch on Tuesday. Those are trays full of pigs hearts, stomachs, kidneys, tongues, and god knows what else. Pretty appetizing huh?? I ordered a taco with just regular meat in it but they chop everything up in the same bowl. I have eaten more things that I have been skeptical of down here than I have in my previous 26 years of life before this. YOLO I guess.....
One last thing BTW. If you were going to see the movie "Apartment 143", do yourself a favor and save your money. You're welcome....
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