The digital transformation ceased to be an option to become an urgency, even in sectors as traditional as the Medellín hole. Aware of changes in consumption habits, especially among the new generations they prefer to buy from the comfort of their homes, the merchants of this emblematic commercial area decided to take a firm step towards virtuality, they launched their own digital store, called We are the hole, a platform with which they hope to compete in the electronic commerce market and increase their sales of up to $ 4,000 million annually.
The decision responds to a clear diagnosis, although The hole remains one of the most important economic engines in the Aburrá Valley, with about 17,000 businesses distributed in 28 apples in the center of Medellín And with a daily transit estimated at 1.2 million people, the flow of buyers began to change. It is no longer so common to see young people walking through the streets of the sector. According to merchants, the visual and logistics attraction of the area lost strength against the advantages offered by digital platforms.
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“The hole is at this time the most important commercial sector in Colombia. It manages too many sales, but over time we realized that they have decreased because the new generations have stopped visiting us, they no longer see this sector so attractive, but they do appreciate the variety, the product and the price,” said Duber Ledesma, business leader of the guild. For him, the new marketplace Not only is it a commercial solution, but also a way of claiming the name of El Hollow, associated for years to informal trade, showing that there are also legally constituted, serious and guarantees companies.
The platform is already online and available in the web direction Somoselhueco.com, where users can access from any device with Internet connection. It has more than 10,000 products from 25 companies and its portfolio is expected to progressively expand in the coming months. There it is possible to find articles classified in categories such as technology, beauty, fashion, stationery, babies, sports, home, hardware, toys, pets, among others.
The purchase process is simple, it is enough to add products to the cart, select the payment method, among which are PSE, Daviplat, Nequi, Bancolombia and cards such as American Express, and cover the additional cost of the shipment, which will be available not only in Medellín, also nationally.
Beyond facilitating access to consumers, this marketplace It has another strategic objective and is to open the door so that businesses that are not necessarily in the hole can also sell through the platform. “This is an opportunity to show that in the hole original products and serious companies are sold and with all the guarantees,” Ledesma added.
Currently, the hole generates about 70,000 direct jobs and around 300,000 indirects. The expectation is that digitalization allows to maintain and possibly increase those figures through sustained growth of sales, which could represent up to 10 % of all sales in the long -term sector.
While for now buyers do not have an official mobile application to access the new El Hollow Marketplace, Those responsible for the project have confirmed that they are already developing an exclusive app to further facilitate the experience of users.
This digital tool, which is expected to be ready and available for the public towards the end of 2025, will allow more agile and optimized navigation from mobile devices. Meanwhile, the platform can be used without inconvenience from any cell phone or tablet with Internet connection, entering through the browser to the address.
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