Local commerces to up their game after Milei opens to imports

There are 27 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 2,073 times. The latest Post (September 22, 2025 at 9:43 AM) was by serafina.

    Tierra del Fuego was established during the K-regimen as the technological capital of Argentina. We soon learned that they simply screwed the top on pre-assembled electronics from Asia. To add up in ridiculousness, electronics from Asia arrived via sea cargo in Buenos Aires, were driven thousands of km South to Tierra del Fuego, and back. The result of this business model, which is the opposite of LEAN production, was inflated electronics price and subpar offer.

    Now that it is possible to order electronics from abroad (with some restrictions still), the "manufacturers" in Tierra del Fuego upped their game and are cheaper than retails store in Argentina. Not much of an improvement vs. foreign prices, but still...

    Quote

    https://www.infobae.com/economia/2025/…y-como-acceder/

    Para citar algunos ejemplos, en el caso de Mirgor:

    • Un Celular Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra 512GB Titanium Gray (el más costoso que tienen) cuesta USD 1.559 y si el envío es a Capital Federal, hay que sumarle USD 35. El total: USD 1.594. Si se compra este mismo teléfono en el exterior, en la web de Amazon, cuesta entre USD 1.000 y USD 1.100. Pero en un retail argentino cuesta $3.349.999, es decir, 50% más. Pero en este caso, se ofrecen 12 cuotas sin interés en la cadena y hasta 18 con un banco específico. En Mercado Libre, sin embargo, hay algunos vendedores que lo ofrecen a $1.800.000.
    • Un Celular Samsung Galaxy S25 256GB Icyblue cuesta USD 984 y el envío a CABA o provincia de Buenos Aires también es de USD 35. El total suma USD 1.019, que al tipo de cambio oficial representan $1.396.030. En una reconocida cadena de retail el mismo teléfono sale 36% más, aunque ofrecen 3 cuotas sin interés en este caso. En Mercado Libre también cuestan más.
    • Un Smart Tv Samsung 85″ QLED 4K Q70A cuesta USD 2.385 ($3.267.450) pero en este caso el envío asciende a USD 96, por lo que el total es de USD 2.481 ($3.398.970). En Mercado Libre se puede conseguir por $4 millones o más el mismo modelo.


    That said, 2x air fryers for 90k pesos (67USD) sounds like a deal. If I had any ountertop space left, I'd be tempted!

    https://www.tiendanewsan.com.ar/freidora-de-aire-manual-sansei-3-5l-1350w-negra-1.html

    image-product

  • serafina August 29, 2025 at 5:06 PM

    Changed the title of the thread from “Local commerces to up their game after Milei opens to import” to “Local commerces to up their game after Milei opens to imports”.

    I did a stupid thing at Carrefour. A sign said that it was 25% off paying by NCF, so I decided to use my foreign credit card and NCF (over the phone).

    I bought 2x cans of Andes IPA. They were on offer 50% off on the 2nd unit, for $1857 per can after offer.

    I went to the cashier, they asked if I have Mi Carrefour. I do but I didn't want it to be associated with my credit card, so I said 'no'. The total run $5300 and I paid by card 3.90 USD, which is 3.61 USD.

    I should just have paid as usual (cash) using my carrefour. $3700 is just 2.52 USD.

    No 25% discount, and full price on the cans. Lose-lose situation.

    I completely sympathize, serafina . In order not to feel you’ve just lost at the casino, you have to devote far too many hours to figuring out the best (or least worst) deals in Argentina’s supermarket chains.

    Without all their credit card affiliated discounts, customer loyalty account discounts, multiple product discounts, day of the week discounts, anybody-but-you discounts, etc, couldn’t they just quit trying to trick everyone and compete for business by offering the best across-the-board prices?

    When you reach the cashier and are told the total, it is almost always more than you thought you’d be paying.

    Rice , you nailed it! It is so frustrating! Every time I approach a supermarket, I have to read the sign posted with the discounts on each day of the week, and then the fine print. Because maybe there is a discount on a certain day with my bank, but it is only if you pay by debit and/or credit and/or through the bank app and/or through the Modo app or another app, but...hey, some exclusion apply, and anyway you can get no more than XXX pesos off.

    Quote from Rice

    I completely sympathize, serafina . In order not to feel you’ve just lost at the casino, you have to devote far too many hours to figuring out the best (or least worst) deals in Argentina’s supermarket chains.

    Without all their credit card affiliated discounts, customer loyalty account discounts, multiple product discounts, day of the week discounts, anybody-but-you discounts, etc, couldn’t they just quit trying to trick everyone and compete for business by offering the best across-the-board prices?

    When you reach the cashier and are told the total, it is almost always more than you thought you’d be paying.

    Indeed....the whole thing's farcical. Understanding how these deals work and whether they apply to you or not is a full time job in itself. Hardly a week goes by without the missus having to quiz the checkout bill at the supermarket. In the last few weeks she's either been told the offer on the item only applies when paying with a certain card, the offer ended a couple of days ago but the display hadn't been taken down or the offer wasn't recognised by the scan. In the last case this has happened twice and she's had to wait until they faff about changing the payment to get the money back.

    Vea always used to have a manager available that you could complain to but he disappeared over a year ago. The girls told us they no longer employ a manager so they take turns doing the job. Last week they were selling rotten potatoes for 1200 a kilo while the fruit and veg shop just up the road had fresh ones for 750 a kilo. The retail industry here is a joke.

    Shopping here is not exactly compulsive and engaging. If anything, it is all the opposite.

    First, I never understood why you have to pay to park in a mall. The big Jumbo complex near the Mosque on Av. Bullrich is free for the first two hours, only. Which would be fine if you were just going there to visit the supermarket. But it is a mall, and you are supposed to spend there 3-4 hours, as a minimum.

    I understand that city supermarkets need to regulate parking access to avoid abuse. However, the whole system where you have to validate your ticket at the cashier before leaving, it is SO annoying. Sometimes it is the same cashier where you pay, but others you have to approach the management desk. And in some supermarkets, you also have to make a minimum purchase (such as 10,000 pesos) to get to use their parking for free (and sometimes, just for 2 hours).

    When I came back from Italy, the kitchen cupboards were bare empty. I spent Saturday morning touring Disco and Coto to shop. I was amazed by the many 'offers' that brought prices slightly around what the same item would cost regular price in Europe. Also, the discounts are so complex, that sometimes it is really hard to figure it out... and you can probably find it for the same price in a different supermarket, even if the product is not on offer because they inflated the price just to make it on offer.

    Some of the offers are 50% on the 2nd unit (which translates to 25% off - it is the same as 4x3), some are 3x2 (which translates to 33,3% off). Some have a 20-25% discount but only if you are a member of their affiliation program, but sometimes you also need to have the supermarket debit or credit card.

    Now, Dia has offers through their app, so you have to remember to check your app for the offers. It is really a mastermind to keep tabs on all days/offers/terms. In the end, I just buy as little as possible and visit supermarkets the bare necessary because it is a frustrating experience.

    Truth is the Argentine retail industry wouldn't survive very long if they tried to operate the same way in Europe. Carrefour are going to get rid of a lot of their stores blaming outside interference on how they operate. I take that to mean political and union interference.

    Quote from UK Man

    Truth is the Argentine retail industry wouldn't survive very long if they tried to operate the same way in Europe. Carrefour are going to get rid of a lot of their stores blaming outside interference on how they operate. I take that to mean political and union interference.

    Carrefour said recently they were selling up and getting out if Argentina.

    Deutsche Bank is handling the sale.

    They are selling everything. I would imagine that one or two shops will be closed.

    The favourite seems to be De Narvaez who owns Changomas.

    But Coto and La Anonima have also declared Alan interest in part of the network

    Quote from GlasgowJohn

    Carrefour said recently they were selling up and getting out if Argentina.

    Deutsche Bank is handling the sale.

    Can't say I blame them. To get permission to build here they had to agree to certain conditions. It should have been the other way about to encourage them to come here in the first place!!

    I find the discount hunt quite fun actually and I often go for a ride on my bike at around 4.30 pm if it's been quiet at work and pop into Carrefour and Dia just to mooch around.

    If you are in Club Dia, you get 20% discount on everything on Tuesdays, including items that are already discounted. For example, the other week I spotted that Havana Rum was discounted down to around $12,000 from $18,000, so being a Tuesday I also got a further 20%! Can't complain at that, so I bought two.

    In Coto it's 25% discount when paying with MercadoPago and any means (all cards and money in account) so we always do that.

    It really isn't that complicated if you treat it as fun!

    Quote from Splinter

    find the discount hunt quite fun actually and I often go for a ride on my bike at around 4.30 pm if it's been quiet at work and pop into Carrefour and Dia just to mooch around.

    Some reporting on a scam. Hackers advertising fake carrefour promotions on IM and other websites. They had a replica of the companies website and prompted users to enter their data for some promotions

    Alerta máxima en un supermercado de Argentina por una estafa: hicieron una falsa web y roban a los usuarios
    Una web copia la marca de una reconocida cadena y permite a los estafadores obtener datos personales y bancarios antes de que los clientes se den cuenta.
    www.ambito.com
    Quote from Splinter

    I find the discount hunt quite fun actually and I often go for a ride on my bike at around 4.30 pm if it's been quiet at work and pop into Carrefour and Dia just to mooch around.

    If you are in Club Dia, you get 20% discount on everything on Tuesdays, including items that are already discounted. For example, the other week I spotted that Havana Rum was discounted down to around $12,000 from $18,000, so being a Tuesday I also got a further 20%! Can't complain at that, so I bought two.

    In Coto it's 25% discount when paying with MercadoPago and any means (all cards and money in account) so we always do that.

    It really isn't that complicated if you treat it as fun!

    Yip , but not all discounts are cumulative....it depends on each one and the small print which we never read

    Quote from UK Man

    Truth is the Argentine retail industry wouldn't survive very long if they tried to operate the same way in Europe. Carrefour are going to get rid of a lot of their stores blaming outside interference on how they operate. I take that to mean political and union interference.

    every time i do the groceries in Waitrose with the self scanner, we say to ourselves - this would never work in argentina!

    Quote from sts

    every time i do the groceries in Waitrose with the self scanner, we say to ourselves - this would never work in argentina!

    Our Vea installed self scanners a couple of months ago. The staff started forcing people to use them including the wife and me. We'd never used them in the UK so hadn't a clue what to do and it turned out the girl helper hadn't much of a clue either. :D

    We've refused to use them since and never seen anyone else use them either. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if they're buggered already.