We are greatly satisfied with Falabella’s performance in 2013. Most
notably, we highlight our expansion in the region, adding 86 new
stores, reaching 382 in total, in addition to five new shopping centers,
reaching to a total of 36.
These additional locations, combined with the increase in traffic seen
by the positive same-store sales growth in all our operations throughout
the region and the development of our e-commerce business, resulted
in sales of CLP 6,659,641 million in the year, an increase of 12.3%
compared to 2012. The company’s profits were also higher, with an
EBITDA of CLP 902,281 million, 17.7% above the previous year. The
net income increased 19.4%, to CLP 443,827 million.
Falabella is about to celebrate 125 years. Our history is full of efforts
and visionary dreams that have made it one of the leading retailers
in Latin America, present in Chile, Peru, Argentina, Colombia and
recently in Brazil.
We do not fear tradition. On the contrary, our tradition and all of
the accomplishments of our predecessors are what we work from,
as it is what our collaborators do today and what we predict that our
successors will do in the future.
Customers are multi-faceted and their needs and aspirations are many.
We endeavor to interpret and provide the product that millions of
people dream about. The most important part of our business are
those millions of customers in the region who place their trust in us
and have made us a part of their lives and of their families.
Austerity and ethics are values in the Falabella culture that we consider
to be fundamental. It is not enough for the company to subscribe to
those values, they must be adopted at each level. This is important in
building a company that is reborn each day, clear about the tasks at
hand and focused on benefitting customers, which is the orientation
of the company’s decisions and actions.
We have endeavored to blend a creative long-term vision in our
teams with an obsession for the everyday details. We inculcate
ambition for attaining and constantly improving the proposed
goals. We encourage collaboration between areas and ongoing
innovation to capture the changing needs of our customers.
Finally, we have sought to instill in each of the members of our
team the dream that each of us cannot not only “do more” but
also “be more”.
In a world that is changing at great speed like the world of today,
customer requirements grow each day. Customers want their
needs to be satisfied fairly, promptly and conveniently through
the offer of the best products and services at reasonable prices.
That is why Falabella has worked arduously to improve its service
not only at the time of purchase, but also after the sale. The
successes of the past are no guarantee of success in the future.
And like our client’s needs and preferences change every day,
we also must stay at the vanguard by taking on new challenges
and leading the businesses in which we participate. Falabella will
know how to adapt to new circumstances, in which technology
and the involvement of individuals will be key to the nation’s
development.
We would like to see the quality of leader in each of our collaborators.
We must be humble in order to be open to learning, to be open to
accepting mistakes, not to rest on our laurels and rectify if needed.
We feel it is important to highlight the commitment we assume
towards the community in each city where we do business,
requiring a management focused on the needs and customs
of the inhabitants, working together with our suppliers and
collaborators. We will continue moving forward in our commitment
to contribute to building a sustainable society. We are proud of
the activities that bind us to the community, such as ”Programa
Haciendo Escuela”, through which we have contributed, for the
past 45 years, to the education of thousands of children in 87
schools throughout the region.
But we cannot leave things as they are. We cannot stop dreaming
and growing. Implementing a growth plan is not a job for just a few.
Nor is taking advantage of opportunities that may arise on markets
where we are not yet present today.
Dear friends, we need leaders to be leaders. We must always put
ourselves in someone else’s shoes and ask: how would we expect to
be served? How would we like to be treated? How do our decisions
benefit customers and how do we transfer the efficiencies that we
have attained to them? Things can always be done better, which
is our challenge each day. For that reason, I invite you to continue
working incessantly so that we can be build the Falabella of tomorrow
through mutual trust, sincerity and affection.
We trust that our shareholders will continue to prefer to invest in
us since we have a team that is honest, has a vocation for service,
is committed and has the formation that makes it conceivable that
the near future will be tremendously auspicious.
Sincerely yours,
Juan Cúneo Solari
Chairman
S.A.C.I. Falabella
Letter from the Chairman
