This year’s Easter will be the installment. Large retail chains are paying in installments for typical holiday items, such as chocolate eggs, cod, olive oil, cakes, sparkling wine, wines, chocolates and toys. Everything can be split on your credit card and interest-free. And the deadlines go up to ten times. This means that whoever chooses this payment method will pay the last installment of the Easter egg only after Christmas.
High consumer debt and default and food prices still on the rise, due to the increases recorded in recent years, despite the recent slowdown in inflation in general, explain the stores’ investment in longer terms to boost sales on this date.
Americanas, for example, which before the request for judicial recovery at the beginning of 2023 was positioned in the market as responsible for the biggest Easter in the world, is paying in ten installments, with no increase, for purchases of imported Easter eggs, chocolates and toys. , like stuffed bunnies. The condition is for purchases in physical stores and provides that the minimum value of the items purchased is R$ 199. Payment can be made in installments on all credit cards, informs the company.
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Carrefour, the largest supermarket chain in the country in terms of sales, also divides chocolate eggs in up to ten interest-free installments on its own card. The condition is that the minimum installment is R$9.90. However, for products such as olive oil and cod, the installment term offered is shorter, up to six interest-free installments and on the store’s own card.
According to the company, installments are nothing new. “For more than five years, Carrefour has offered the possibility of paying in installments for Easter purchases,” says the note.
GPA, controller of the Pão de Açúcar and Extra Mercado chains, informs that it has included chocolates, Easter eggs, cakes, frozen desserts, olive oils, wines, cod and the ready-made Easter lunch menu, available in the rotisseries of both chains, in the installment plan. By dividing the payment for purchases in stores in São Paulo, the group expects to increase sales of chocolates and fish by 20%, it says in a note.
Continues after advertising
Under the Pão de Açúcar banner, it is possible to split the payment into up to four interest-free installments, with a minimum installment of R$100, on the Pão de Açúcar card. With Extra, the payment goes up to six interest-free installments on the brand card and three installments on other cards. The minimum installment is R$100.
The commerce strategy of spreading payments over long periods of time for Easter items meets the consumer’s desire. A national survey carried out last month by the National Confederation of Retail Managers (CNDL), in partnership with SPC Brasil, reveals that Brazilians want more time to go shopping at Easter this year.
According to the online survey that consulted almost a thousand consumers, the average number of payment installments required by consumers for Easter purchases increased from three to four between 2023 and 2024. According to the research, the biggest increase per installment is in the deadlines longer.
In the 2023 survey, for example, 9.3% of respondents reported that they would choose to split the payment into five installments. This year, this share rose to 12.6%, an increase of 3.3 percentage points. Paying in installments in six installments or more was the payment option for 13.9% of those interviewed last year. This year, this range rose to 15.7%.
Effect El Niño
Although the country’s general inflation has lost momentum in recent months, the high level of prices for Easter items, such as chocolate and olive oil, for example, are some of the factors that explain, according to Daniel Sakamoto, executive manager of CNDL, the largest looking for longer payment terms.
According to the Broad Consumer Price Index (IPCA)-15, the preview of the country’s official inflation, in the 12 months up to March the price of olive oil rose almost 50% (46.43%), points out the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
A survey by the Procon Foundation in the city of São Paulo reveals that the average price per kilo of chocolates rose 8.30% at Easter this year compared to last year. In the case of tablets, the increase was 8.30% in the same period. A kilo of chocolate eggs is 15.52% cheaper.
According to an analysis by the financial markets platform Investing.com, the Easter eggs were probably produced when the price of cocoa for contracts expiring in November and December varied between US$3,500 and US$3,800 per ton on the New York Stock Exchange. The platform points out that a year ago, the cocoa futures contract was traded at around US$2,900 per ton. But, last Monday, the 25th, the cocoa futures contract scheduled for delivery in May closed at US$9,649 per ton.
The soaring prices of olive oil and cocoa are a reflection of the climatic adversities caused in producing regions due to the El Niño phenomenon. Ivory Coast and Ghana are the largest global cocoa producers, with approximately 60% of supply, the platform’s analysts write in a report. Drought followed by excessive rain damaged the production of the commodity.
Share food?
For Sakamoto, from CNDL, there is a dichotomy between the macroeconomic scenario and the personal finances of Brazilians. This explains the greater demand for longer-term installments, including food.
“From a macroeconomic point of view, the scenario today is better than last year, interest rates are lower, inflation is under control, unemployment is falling”, he observes. However, family finances remain tight, ponders the CNDL manager.
According to the entity, there are currently 66.64 million Brazilians in default in the country – or 40% of the country’s adult population. “We have been at a level above 60 million defaulters for almost a year, with very small seasonal variations”, says Sakamoto. Family debt is also high: it is higher compared to last year and rose 0.5% from February to March this year, according to CNDL research.
It is exactly in this context that long-term installments bring relief to families. However, in Sakamoto’s opinion, this ends up being a trap for the consumer in the medium term.
“We know that a large portion of the population does not have good financial education,” he says, remembering that a large part only calculates whether the amount of the installment fits in their pocket, but does not consider the addition of interest to the total amount. He claims to believe that this could generate a negative spin on the economy.
As there are people with little money in their pockets and who don’t want to stop shopping on commemorative dates, they end up getting into more and more debt. “There are certainly a lot of people still paying for their Christmas purchases who will soon be purchasing their Mother’s Day gifts in installments.”