CASA BAHIA: FULFILLING A DREAM 

In fifty years, Casas Bahia has grown from one man selling blankets and bed

linens door-to-door to the largest retail chain in Brazil, offering electronics, appliances,

and furniture. Since those days, Casas Bahia has invested in a business strategy that

combines massive advertising and a simplified credit system to attend low income

clients. In the beginning, installments were fixed every month because inflation obliged

the indexation of every hiring purchase. With its emphasis on serving the poor customer,

its low prices, and credit determined by payment history rather than formal Casas Bahia

grosses over a billion US dollars a year, and has invoked deep loyalty in its customers.

Casas Bahia is a Brazilian retailer. Started by Samuel Klein in 1952, Casas

Bahia has become one of the largest retailers in Brazil. It employs 20,000 people,

operates 330 stores, and has a current customer list of over 10 million consumers.

Casas Bahia provides the credit. To cut costs of brand name appliances, Casa Bahia

has invested in world-class logistics, operating some of the largest warehouses and one

of the largest delivery fleets in the world. Casas Bahia has a team of “reminders”. The

“reminders” call a client who is six days late in his/her payment. If there is no phone, they

send a letter. If none of the messages works, the reminder visits the client to negotiate

the payment.

Just before Plano Real there was no credit history register: every client was

treated just like a new one. After the implementation of an IT system in 1995, the waiting

time of credit approval dropped and installment carnets were sent directly to the client’s

home. Casas Bahia has a team of “reminders”. The “reminders” call a client who is six

days late in his/her payment. If there is no phone, they send a letter. If none of the

messages works, the reminder visits the client to negotiate the payment. After the

implementation of an IT system in 1995, the waiting time of credit approval dropped and

installment carnets were sent directly to the client’s home.