Arcor en Casa

A global giant. A world in lockdown. And a decision to activate the digital pulse of the business.

Introduction

Grupo Arcor is one of the largest food companies in Latin America, with regional operations and brands present across major mass-consumption categories. Its commercial model operates through distributors: they manage inventory, territorial reach, and last-mile delivery. In 2020, with lockdown in effect and physical channels closed, that model became a constraint.

The question was not “Should we launch an e-commerce?” It was how to reach the end consumer without bypassing the distribution network, without losing territorial control, and without missing the Easter sales window.

The Problem

Arcor did not have a direct digital sales channel, and timelines did not allow for a standard implementation. The platform had to be live in less than one month.

The technical challenge was easy to describe. The business challenge was not. Any generic platform would allow selling—but not while respecting the existing commercial structure. And that structure was not optional; it was the foundation of the project. The model required:

• Orders initiated by consumers but processed by the local distributor

• Distributor-specific stock, catalog, and pricing

• Automatic geographic assignment using polygons, with no manual intervention

• Payments made directly to the distributor, not to Arcor

Without solving these constraints, the risk was not just losing sales—it was creating friction with the distribution network by competing against it from the brand itself.

The Solution

We designed and implemented Arcor en Casa as a platform built from the business model outward. The foundation was open-source technology, but the architecture was fully custom.

The system integrated users, products, pricing, and inventory in real time with Arcor’s internal systems via REST APIs. Checkout operated using each distributor’s payment credentials through a multi-seller module on Mercado Pago, with an additional configurable payment method per distributor.

Geographic assignment was automatic: the system detected the buyer’s location and assigned the correct distributor before displaying the available catalog.

The platform launched with pilot distributors within three weeks and scaled to cover the national network. Over time, we added features focused on conversion and operations: delivery scheduling, mass coupons, abandoned cart recovery, repeat purchases, synonym-based search, and more.

The relationship went beyond a vendor executing a request. We maintained a dedicated management team to support day-to-day operations: distributor support, pricing, promotions, monitoring, and reporting, with biweekly releases and regular strategic meetings.

Results

After 18 months:

• 100,000 registered consumers

• 110,000 processed purchases

• $180 million in gross sales

• 1 million items sold

• 40% organic traffic

After 36 months:

• +250,000 registered consumers

• +200,000 processed purchases

• $500 million in gross sales

• +1.5 million items sold

• 34% organic traffic

The operation also deepened its commercial capabilities: corporate benefit campaigns, seasonal configurations, and reporting for business decision-making.

Externally, Arcor en Casa was recognized at the eCommerce Award Argentina 2021 and subsequent editions.

Conclusion

What makes this case relevant is not the speed of the launch. It’s that technology didn’t force the business to adapt—it was built to operate within a commercial network with decades of history and non-negotiable logic.

That is the difference between a digital channel that truly works and one that merely exists.