{"id":11053,"date":"2020-03-16T15:25:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T19:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/zubale-revolutionizing-retail-execution-in-latam\/"},"modified":"2020-03-16T15:25:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T19:25:00","slug":"zubale-revolutionizing-retail-execution-in-latam","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/zubale-revolutionizing-retail-execution-in-latam\/","title":{"rendered":"ZUBALE – Revolutionizing retail execution in LatAm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zubale\u2019s co-founders, Allison Campbell and Sebastian Monroy (both HBS class of 2018<\/strong>) shared a similar path in retail in emerging markets before starting their MBA\u2019s. Campbell had nearly 8 years of experience working with Walmart as a merchandise manager and as director of international strategic initiatives (in India & China), while Monroy spent over 7 years working in a variety of sales roles with Procter & Gamble in Mexico. Seeing a large opportunity to revolutionize how brands go about driving retail execution<\/strong> and achieve higher sales in Latin America, they launched Zubale in Mexico City in 2018 during their EC year.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Simply put, Zubale provides a platform that crowdsources contractors for retailers<\/strong>. They connect large corporations (\u201ccompanies\u201d) looking to address retail execution tasks with people (\u201ccontractors\u201d) looking for short-term work assignments. The jobs can range from conducting market research for a brand to stocking shelves, checking prices and building displays in retail stores<\/strong>. Since its launch, the company\u2019s contractors have completed over 170,000 tasks for consumer brands and in 2019 their permanent workforce has quadrupled from 10 to 40 full-time employees[2]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zubale\u2019s approach to value creation is twofold<\/strong>. Even though the retail industry across Latin America generates approximately $2 trillion per year, companies are spending close to $40 billion on retail execution, which includes employees who complete in-store tasks like the ones mentioned before. This said, for companies, Zubale creates value in offering a simple, flexible and agile alternative to tackle retail execution tasks with larger coverage than before, thus saving them time and money<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

On the flipside, the company offers contractors the promise of incrementing their income up to 40% by providing flexible employment on an on-demand basis.<\/strong> In addition, while 85% of Mexico\u2019s population has access to a smartphone, only 10% have a credit card and 35% have a checking account. Zubale fills in this void by offering contractors payment in the form of mobile phone credit or digital rewards that can be redeemed for online purchases, thus creating additional value for them[3]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zubale is currently operating throughout Mexico<\/strong> in 32 states and 94 cities. They raised $4.4 million in seed funding<\/strong> through well known VC firms and notable investors, which they plan on further using to continue expanding coverage in Mexico and later scaling into other Latin American countries<\/strong> such as Brazil, Peru and Chile[4]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, given these plans to scale aggressively in the future, how well positioned is Zubale\u2019s platform in terms of scalability and sustainability?<\/p>\n

Strength of network effects<\/strong><\/p>\n