Unicomer Group
 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement. (June 2017) |
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| Type | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Headquarters | San Salvador , El Salvador |
Area served | Central America, Caribbean Islands, United States, South America |
| Products | Appliances, furniture, video and audio products, computers/tablets/smartphones, optical products, motorcycles and a variety of technological accessories |
Number of employees | +15,000 |
| Website | http://www.unicomergroup.com |
Unicomer Group (Spanish: Grupo Unicomer), is a multinational retailing and consumer finance group headquartered in San Salvador, El Salvador and with regional offices in Miami, Trinidad, Jamaica, Costa Rica. It operates several chains of retail brands in the consumer durables sector, specializing in furniture, audio & video, appliances, and electronics in over 1,000 stores in Central America, the Caribbean, South America, and the United States, employing over 13,000 associates.[1]
In 2014, Grupo Unicomer obtained international credit ratings from Fitch Ratings and from Standard and Poors for its consolidated holding company, which at that time was named Regal Forest Holding Co. Ltd. In February 2017, the Group's holding company changed its name to Grupo Unicomer Holding Co. Ltd. to better represent the corporate branding.
In March 2017, Grupo Unicomer issued a 144A/RegS international bond in an amount of US$350MM for a term of 7 years that was listed on the SGX Singapore Exchange. Later in 2017, Latin Finance Magazine awarded Unicomer with the Best Capital Markets Strategy Award for the Central America and Caribbean region.
In 2018, Boston Consulting Group included Unicomer Group in its list of the Top 100 Multilatinas, companies that are key to the region's growth.
In February 2020, Fitch ratings issued a Spotlight report on Grupo Unicomer, in which Unicomer was called the most geographically diversified retailer in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the retailer that best adapts to changing environments.
As of December 2021, Grupo Unicomer's international credit ratings were BB-.
In May 2022, Unicomer signed an agreement to purchase CrediScotia Financiera, a peruvian financial services company owned by Bank of Nova Scotia of Canada. This acquisition is pending regulatory approvals.
Unicomer publishes annually its Corporate Responsibiity and Sustainability Report (ESG) which is available on its website, www.unicomer.com.
History
The Unicomer Group was founded in 2000.[2]
Unicomer Group owns large brands such as La Curaçao and Almacenes Tropigas (Central America). Gollo in Costa Rica, Artefacta in Ecuador, and Electro Facil in Paraguay.
In the Caribbean region, Unicomer Group operates mainly through its retail brand Courts. Other brands in the region are Lucky Dollar, OMNI, AMC Unicon, among others. In New York, USA, the group operates Courts Caribbean stores.
As of 15 April 2015 Unicomer Group acquired the exclusive rights to the RadioShack brands, intellectual property and contracts of existing RadioShack[3] franchisees throughout Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Since the year 2000, Unicomer Group has grown from operating 4 store chains in Central America, to operating more than 30 brands in 26 countries in Central America, South America, the Caribbean islands and USA.
Brands operated by Unicomer Group
About La Curacao[4]
The Central American retail chain La Curaçao was established in 1890 under the name Curaçao Trading Company which dedicated itself to maritime ports exploitation. By 1911, it was acquired by the Dutch Curaçao Trading Company (CETECO) renovating into selling household and agricultural products. In 1945, it consolidated into the household appliance store we know today.
In 2000, the Unicomer Group was formed when it acquired the dutch multinational CETECO's retail operations in Central America, including the chains La Curaçao and Almacenes Tropigas. Operations were strengthened by the acquisition in countries like Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and later in the Dominican Republic. In the year 2004, the Group opened two stores under the name of UNICOMER in Houston, Texas, in the United States.
La Curaçao expands its services in October 2005 introducing Opticas La Curaçao in Guatemala, selling ophthalmological products. In February 2006, Optica is introduced in El Salvador and furthermore in Nicaragua in October of the same year, and later Honduras. La Curaçao Optical's purpose is to offer its clients lenses and frames for eye- and sunglasses, as well as ocular medical consultations with specialists using advanced diagnostic equipment.
La Curaçao opened its e-commerce site in 2003, www.lacuracaoonline.com.
Additionally, it opened a new concept store named La Curaçao Cash, in order to serve preferential customers by providing cash loans to be repaid in instalments. This concept begins in Guatemala in 2013 and with its success it is now present in Honduras totalling 15 Cash stores. Additionally, the cash loans concept was added in the normal La Curacao stores as well.
As of 2017, La Curaçao branched out to more than 200 stores. La Curaçao has high acceptance in commercial preference, due to the fact that it offers its customers additional benefits that facilitate the purchase, such as instant credit, free delivery, extended warranties, and maintenance service for all products bought in any of the company's stores.
About Courts
Courts was founded in 1850, with only one store in England. The company was established in the Caribbean region since 1959, and is the Caribbean's largest furniture, appliance and electrical retailer. The company has stores across the Caribbean islands: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, and also on the South American continent in Guyana.[5] Courts also has a retail presence in other former British territories in Asia and Africa. In December 2006, Unicomer Group acquired the Courts operations in the Caribbean. In the process, Unicomer realized the first-ever LBO in the Caribbean region by acquiring the publicly traded shares of Courts in Jamaica and Barbados, and by acquiring the remaining operations directly from the holding company, Courts plc, in the UK.
In 2008, Unicomer Group opened its first Courts Caribbean store in New York, USA, in Brooklyn, NY.[6] In 2011 Unicomer Group expanded its USA services by opening a store in Queens, catering principally to the Caribbean immigrant communities in the area.[7]
Just as its sister store La Curaçao, synergy between regions led Courts to open its optical branch, Courts Optical, in 2012.
In 2014, Courts opens its e-commerce store, www.shopcourts.com, offering a wide range of products available for purchase for people living in the Caribbean, as well as those living outside the Caribbean and wish to send products back home.[8]
About Gollo
Gollo was founded in 1974 in Costa Rica with only four employees at the time.
In the year 2000, Gollo introduced its mascot with the same name. And in 2005, the slogan "Solo Bueno" was introduced.
Today the store chain comprises more than 120 stores with more than 700 thousand square feet of sales area, more than 400 thousand customers and 1,600 employees. Service, friendship, and commitment are the values that have made Gollo the leader in retailing technology, furniture and home appliances in the Costa Rican market. Values which made Gollo the perfect fit when it joined Unicomer Group in September 2012.
Under Unicomer Group, Gollo launches its e-commerce site, www.gollo.com, in February 2014 thereby offering its loyal customers another point of purchase with online chat support, in-store pickup and home delivery.[9]
Also, in 2014 Gollo Optical is launched with the purpose to offer its clients lenses and frames for eye and sunglasses, as well as ocular medical consultations with specialists and technology just as its sister stores, La Curaçao and Courts.
About Artefacta
Founded in 1989 with Peruvian investments, Artefacta began as an electrical goods assembly plant under de name ETELSA. A few years in, the company took a more commercial business strategy opening two stores in Ecuador: one un Quito and one in Guayaquil.
Following this, the company decided to change its name to a more commercial one, and this is how Artefacta was born, Ecuadorian appliances for the home.
In 2002, Artefacta decided to extend its product line to Motorcycles and cellular phones, making it one of the first chains that opened a different sales channel for these products. Two years later in 2004 the company began selling desktops and laptops, which has been one of the fastest growing lines of the company.
Artefacta decided to change its advertising concept to a friendlier and more innovative strategy in 2008, adopting the image "Family of appliances". Incorporated into all the advertising of the company, it improved their identification levels, top of mind and advertising campaign results.
In 2009, Artefacta was the first store in Ecuador to venture into the mass sale of insurance, offering its customers a package of coverages for life, accident and unemployment insurance in order to improve customer service.
At the end of 2011, Artefacta with its 98 stores joins the Unicomer Group family.[10]
About Almacenes Tropigas
 |
Tropigas began a liquified gas company in 1955. It soon attended the demand for small appliances and home goods and began commercializing these typed of goods.
In 1988, the gas part of the company was acquired by Shell International and by 1992, the Dutch business group CETECO acquired the household appliance part, separating the retail business into Almacenes Tropigas.
Almacenes Tropigas carried out a daring strategy that allowed them to cover a larger share of the market, backed up by La Curaçao, positioning itself as second in the electric appliance market.
In the year 2000, Unicomer Group bought the CETECO group. At that time Almacenes Tropigas had reached a significant penetration in the Central American region, and as part of the new group it continued with its aggressive expansion plan and creating new employment opportunities.
During the early months of 2001, Almacenes Tropigas implemented the door-to-door sales system, starting its operations in El Salvador and rolling out this modality to the rest of the Central American countries in October of the same year.
In 2007, Almacenes Tropigas started operations in Belize. As of 2015, it reaches a total of 130 stores distributed through El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Belize.
As an added value, and like its sister chain La Curaçao, TropiCash offers its preferred customers the opportunity to obtain cash loans with affordable installments.
About RadioShack franchise
Unicomer Group's shareholders initially acquired a RadioShack franchise in El Salvador in January 1998. The brand's expansion outside the Salvadoran territory began in Honduras in the year 2002. Operations in Guatemala began a year later, and in Nicaragua in May 2005. By January 2015, Unicomer Group owned 57 RadioShack stores distributed throughout the Central American region, making it one of the largest independent owners of RadioShack stores in the world.
Since the year 2000, Unicomer Group has been a successful franchise operator for RadioShack. Through these years the brand gained a strong position in the region and has created thousands of new job positions that have served hundreds of thousands of Central American families that rely on its brand value and deferred payment facilities offered by the Group. Unicomer Group has been granted awards for achieving and surpassing guidelines established by the franchisor, such as: Diamond Excellence Award, Platinum Plus Award, Best RadioShack Store Growth Award, and Best Advertising Program.
On 15 April 2015, Unicomer Group acquired the exclusively rights from the US Bankruptcy court for the RadioShack brands, intellectual property and contracts of existing RadioShack franchisees throughout Central America, South America and the Caribbean. In the new territories, RadioShack is present through 198 franchise stores, with Unicomer as franchisor. This has allowed Unicomer Group to have an indirect retail presence in countries where it was not yet present, such as Peru, Bolivia, and Haiti. [11]
References
- ^ "Courts entering North American market." Caribbean360. 4 March 2010. Retrieved on 4 March 2010.
- ^ "Growth & Jobs | Caribbean's Outsourcing Sector to provide 2.3 million jobs by 2020". jamaica-gleaner.com. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
- ^ Group, AOMedia. "Unicomer Group: RadioShack". www.grupounicomer.com. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
- ^ Group, AOMedia. "Unicomer Group: La Curacao". www.grupounicomer.com. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
- ^ "About us". Shopcourts.com. Archived from the original on 29 March 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
- ^ "Courts to open first U.S. furniture, home goods store - 2008-10-16 06:49:11". Furniture Today. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
- ^ "COURTS CARIBBEAN launches their US Outfit in Brooklyn New York | Baiganchoka - Caribbean Blogs and Entertainment". Baiganchoka. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
- ^ Group, AOMedia. "Unicomer Group: Courts". www.grupounicomer.com. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
- ^ www.laprensagrafica.com http://www.laprensagrafica.com/unicomer-compra-almacenes-gollo. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Group, AOMedia. "Unicomer Group: Artefacta". www.grupounicomer.com. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
- ^ Group, AOMedia. "Unicomer Group: RadioShack". www.grupounicomer.com. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
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