Inca Foods: Reaching New Customers Worldwide

Abstract

This chapter describes the evolution of electronic commerce at Inca Foods, the largest supermarket chain in Peru. In 1997, it launched its virtual store as an additional way to improve customer service. The new service represented a challenge to the firm because Peru has a low Internet penetration rate and Peruvian people are used to shopping only in stores through face-to-face interactions. However, an unanticipated consequence of going online has been the response Inca Foods has been getting from Peruvian communities overseas. Because of the difficult economic situation in Peru, many people have left the country in search for new opportunities. Most of these people regularly send money to support their families in Peru. Now, Inca Foods provides them with an alternative way to do that. Inca Foods expects to achieve a high level of sales through this channel and is getting ready for it. This will help the firm to consolidate its leading position in the market, and it will constitute a new model for physical distribution of goods sold worldwide through the Web.