See what Americanas promises to partner sellers to contain the crisis and maintain a “business relationship”

With a debt of approximately 41 billion reais distributed among 16,000 creditors, Americanas (AMER3) has come under pressure from investors, regulators, shareholders, customers and selling partners to settle the debt, a process that will be managed through judicial recovery for which the company obtained the authorization.

Among the plates the company seeks to balance is its relationship with its marketplace vendors, who have recently begun pausing ads, reducing promotions, and even raising product prices to reduce sales on the marketplace. reseller for fear of not receiving the previously agreed amounts.

In an effort to mitigate issues and strengthen the relationship with sellers, Americanas sent a recent statement signed by CEO João Guerra saying the expectation is that the company, despite the financial gap, will grow about 15% in January . In the same text, the executive says he counts on the “trust” of the shareholders to overcome the difficult moment.

The dealer shared the statement a Money info. The text also underlines that “an important adjustment in the capital structure of the company should take place, due to unforeseen accounting adjustments”.

“Although we have considerable work ahead to redesign this structure, which will be carried out by a very specialized team in the field, we remain very steadfast in the day-to-day management of our business, improving our operations, optimizing our expenses and, above all, increasing our margin and sales, which already point to approximately 15% growth in stores in January 2023,” reads an excerpt from the release.

The company also says it is convinced that, with the collaborative relationship developed with partners and suppliers and the construction of the distribution network throughout Brazil, it will continue to satisfy the needs of all its more than 54 million customers. “We are uniquely counting on your trust and cooperation so that we can overcome this difficult moment of ours to continue our long history of common success, for many, many years,” states the text.

Since the accounting gap disclosure, Americanas has suffered:

• board resignation;
• arrival of a new CEO, João Guerra;
• authorized request for judicial recovery;
• output of 14 indexes B3;
• and the opening of eight proceedings before the CVM (Comissão de Valores Imobiliários).

State of the market

Partner sellers of Americanos have used a strategy in the face of the company’s judicial recovery, says Yuri Watzech, owner of Ellym Nutrition, a dietary supplement company that partners with the retailer. “Many sellers shared that they were actually jacking up their prices just to not sell. And if they sold [as mercadorias] at a high value it would be possible to compensate for late payments”.

Americanas Marketplace Director Marco Zolet confirmed that some sellers (virtual resellers) have suspended items and terminated their relationship with the company, reducing promotions. But the executive reflected that other salespeople were taking up the space of those who left.

According to the report morning call, released on the market on the 20th, Levante highlighted that sellers are raising prices in order not to attract customers to the market. “In one of the ads there is a Dell notebook, which costs around R$ 11,000 on the Luiza Magazine website, which costs more than R$ 19,000 on the Americanas market. In another announcement, the price of some imported notebooks, which cost around R $ 20,000 on Amazon, can cost twice as much on the Americanas app,” the analyst house report said.

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In another recent press release, to which the Money info Once logged in, the company said its vendors are considered customers and will, therefore, continue to receive all agreed transfers. But is there really a risk that the partner seller will not be paid by Americanas?

According to Fabio Melo, lawyer specializing in judicial and bankruptcy recovery at Goulart Penteado, article 49 of the Recovery Law establishes that all amounts owed by the company, including receivables from sellers, up to the date of the judicial recovery request, will be subject to the legal procedure attempt to recover the company. On the other hand, operations carried out after the start of the judicial reorganization are excluded from the process and the amounts relating to them can normally be debited.

Partner sellers find themselves in two situations:

• sales made before RJ: enter the process;
• sales made after the RJ: they are excluded from the process and follow the rules agreed between the parties.

In the first case, the seller who feels injured should contact the RJ administrator and indicate if: he has an amount to collect and is not in RJ; or inform if the value communicated to you is incorrect.

According to Melo, the judge in the case named the company Preserva-Ação Administração Judicial. Creditors and interested parties can contact you by email: ajamericanas@psvar.com.br. In the second case, if the seller does not receive his credits, he can file a lawsuit to have his rights guaranteed.

“Americanas has declared that it will continue with the transfers to partners and sellers, but in the specific case it is necessary to analyze in detail the relationship and the contract in place between each seller to understand the classification in the recovery and confirm whether there will actually be any reflection of the recovery in their income,” says the lawyer.

It is worth mentioning that judicial reorganization is a tool that prevents the company from going bankrupt and is aimed at restructuring the company’s payment flow.

Read also: What is judicial recovery? Can I receive compensation from the company?

See statement:

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How does the relationship between shopkeepers and Americans work?

Each seller’s contractual model with a reseller varies. Normally the relationship is supported by credits.

Credits are amounts that marketplace sellers must receive from the sale of a product. The reseller usually pays the seller in the future which can vary depending on the contract, for example by receiving the amount in 30, 60 or 90 days after the sale.

But, if the seller wants, he can discount the credit, a sort of advance on the value of the sale made.

“The seller does this when he has some financial responsibility with machines, rent, inputs, among other costs and needs to receive the amount sooner. This mechanism is very common in retail. In it, a bank pays the amount to the supplier, already deducting the company’s billing, and the reseller, who already has the money from the sale made to the customer, owes it to the bank and pays it later – with interest,” explains Marcelo Godke, PhD in Commercial and Banking Law from USP (University of Sao Paulo).

The problem is that many sellers fear not receiving their share of sales given the delicate situation Americanas is facing.

“Every company follows a policy. the fear of salesperson this is a possible constraint on this receipt, as Americana collects the sale value and, subsequently, the company gives it to her. Everything is in the contract, but the insecurity makes the seller take some actions to take less risk,” says Alexandre Machado, head of retail at the consulting firm Bip Brasil.

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