Native's deepest deployment
Traditional trade in Colombia
Everyone selling in Colombia knows the tienda decides the quarter. What no one can settle is which tiendas.
More than 450,000 are registered and wider counts run near 700,000 — and the distance between those two numbers is the size of the problem.
- 450K+
- Registered tiendas
- ~700K
- Wider outlet counts
- 75+
- Cities read continuously
- ~¾
- Of national GDP
[ Colombia at a glance ]
- Channel weight
- Tiendas de barrio carry close to half of Colombian food retail.
- Outlet universe
- More than 450,000 tiendas are registered, and wider counts run near 700,000.
- Demand base
- More than half of tienda channel spend comes from the lowest income strata.
- Discounter pressure
- Hard discount took 18 percent of Colombian retail in 2024, up from 8 percent in 2019.
- Channel stress
- 82 percent of tenderos reported falling sales in 2024.
- Native coverage
- Native reads the Colombian trade continuously across more than 75 cities, covering close to three quarters of GDP.
The trade in Colombia
The tendero sells in fractions, extends fiado against the pay cycle, and rebuilds assortment weekly on what actually turned. More than half of channel spend comes from the lowest income strata, so pack architecture and credit terms move volume more reliably than activation does.
[ Elasticity in Ciudad Bolívar and in Chapinero are different numbers. ]
/a
Sells in fractions
Single-serve economics set category access. The entry pack is the listing that matters.
/b
Extends fiado
Informal credit against the pay cycle. Credit terms move volume as reliably as price.
/c
Rebuilds weekly
Assortment is re-decided every week on what actually turned, not on a planogram.
>50%
of channel spend comes from the lowest income strata — pack architecture and credit terms outperform activation.
How stock reaches the shelf
Replenishment runs through distributors and wholesale, with the tendero buying to a weekly cash position rather than to a plan. That makes availability a function of working capital as much as of demand, and it makes a stock-out a signal about the store's week rather than about the brand.
Supply
Distributors + wholesale
Replenishment runs upstream of the store, one step removed from where it can be observed.
Decision
The tendero's week
Buying to a weekly cash position, not to a plan. Listing depth is capped by working capital.
Outcome
The shelf
Availability follows the store's cash, so the shelf is a moving read on the store's week.
- Availability is a function of working capital as much as of demand.
- A stock-out is a signal about the store's week, not about the brand.
What conventional measurement misses
Hard discount took 18 percent of Colombian retail in 2024, up from 8 percent in 2019, and 82 percent of tenderos reported falling sales that year. That national average covers two different realities, because a tienda three blocks from a new discounter is in a different business from one that is not.
Teams spend the year arguing whether a loss was channel migration or execution failure.
Hard discount share of Colombian retail.
82%
of tenderos reported falling sales in 2024.
Channel migration
Volume relocated — the shopper moved to the discounter three blocks away. Calls for a portfolio and pack response.
Execution failure
Volume was lost at the shelf — availability, price compliance, or facings broke. Calls for a field response.
Those need opposite responses — and shipment data cannot separate them.
How Native reads Colombia
Colombia is Native's deepest deployment. The trade is read continuously across more than 75 cities, covering close to three quarters of GDP, with outlets segmented by value so an A store and a C store on the same street are never treated as one.
- 75+
- Cities read continuously
- ~¾
- Of national GDP
- A ≠ C
- Outlets segmented by value