Falabella (retail store)

Falabella is a multinational chain of department stores owned by Chilean multinational company S.A.C.I. Falabella, is the largest South American department store.[6]

For other uses, see Falabella (disambiguation).
Falabella
IndustryRetail
FoundedSantiago, Chile (1889 (1889))
FounderSalvatore Falabella
Headquarters
Santiago
,
Chile
Number of locations
100 [1][2][3][4]
Area served
Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru
ProductsClothing, footwear, accessories, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares
Number of employees
65,000 [5]
ParentS.A.C.I. Falabella
Websitefalabella.com

History

The company was founded by Salvatore Falabella, an Italian Chilean immigrant, in 1889. In its original form it was a Tailor's shop, but today has become the largest retailer in South America. The expansion of the company began in the 1960s, with the first store outside Santiago opened in Concepción. In 1980 Falabella created CMR, a credit card with 5.5 million customers. In the 1990s it began a process of internationalization and expanded its operations to Argentina, Peru (where was named as Saga Falabella until 2018) and Colombia. Some of the celebrities who have appeared in its ads are Cecilia Bolocco, Valeria Mazza, Juanes, Kate Moss, Gisele Bündchen and Ricky Martin [7][8][9]

On May 17, 2007, Falabella agreed to merge with D & S to form the largest retail company in Chile, but a ruling of the Court of Defense of Free Competition on January 31, 2008 rejected the operation. Giving as fundamental arguments that the merge would produce a huge change in the market structure, creating a company that would be the dominant player in integrated retail and all its segments and a substantial and lasting decrease in the conditions of competition of the market that would be detrimental of consumers. The same year, Falabella acquired 60% of the largest hardware store in Chile, Imperial.

In 2012, Subtel accepts the request made by Falabella to become a Mobile Virtual Operator inaugurating the service during the first quarter of 2012. In the second quarter of the same year, the chain opened another store in Bogotá, in the Titán Plaza Shopping Center.

In August 2018, it acquires 100% of the Linio Marketplace,[10] in order to accelerate its omnichannel and electronic commerce strategy.

In January 2019, the closing of Linio Ecuador and Panama was announced with the aim of focusing efforts in countries where it has strategic capabilities to improve the value proposition of its market platform.

In 2020, Falabella started receiving a wave of backlash in social media [11] due to its inefficient customer service to those who had shopped online through their website or mobile app. Currently, Falabella has become the retail company with the highest rate of complains (22.8% [12] [13] [14]) in Chile's SERNAC service (a special public service under the Ministerio de Economía, Fomento y Turismo). Most of those complains have been made in relation to lengthy delays in shipping, which usually take several months, and malfunctioning products or incorrect packages. In some cases, customers are trying to get their money back due to Falabella's inability to fulfill its delivery times, but the company is repeatedly ignoring the requests customers make through the official contact channels they have available.

Notes
  1. "Nuestras Tiendas en Chile" (in spanish), Falabella Visited on August 23, 2014.
  2. "Nuestras Tiendas en Colombia" (in spanish), Falabella Visited on August 23, 2014.
  3. "Nuestras tiendas en Perú" (in spanish), Falabella Visited on August 23, 2014.
  4. "Nuestras Tiendas en Argentina" (in spanish), Falabella Visited on August 23, 2014.
  5. "Nuestra Empresa" (in spanish), Falabella Visited on August 23, 2014.
  6. Nuestra Empresa, visited on August 23, 2014
  7. Retail Chile Falabella To Open 40 Stores Regionally In 2011 - Report, by Anthony Esposito, Dow Jones News, November 12, 2010
  8. Historia (in spanish), Visited on August 23, 2014
  9. "Tendencias Falabella" Archived 2014-08-24 at Archive.today, Visited on August 23, 2014.
  10. "SACI Falabella informa adquisición del 100% de Linio y anuncia aumento de capital" (in spanish), Falabella Visited on July 22, 2019.
  11. Ola de reclamos por tardanza en despachos a domicilio pone al retail en la mira del Sernac - T13.cl
  12. Sernac reporta fuerte aumente en reclamos contra empresas de retail por demora en entrega de despachos - La Tercera
  13. Sernac reveló cuáles son las tiendas con más reclamos por comercio - Cooperativa.cl
  14. Estas son las 5 empresas del retail que concentran los reclamos ligados a las compras online - Bío Bío Chile
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