Unilae, PC Componentes' marketplace, closes down

There were some rumors and, finally, last week it became official that the well-known company from Murcia had ceased the activity of this line of business. Its sellers received a communiqué to inform, in a very transparent way, about the situation, the reasons that had led them to take this decision and the procedure to be followed to finish the relationship.

 

We will try to clarify a little what has happened and make a small analysis of what has gone wrong in this marketplace.

Absolutely not. When news like this is given, it is easy to end up misinforming or giving partial information that can lead to error.

 

PC Componentes continues to move forward and, not only that, it keeps intact its value as an eCommerce case study. What is more, it does not even close the entire marketplace, it simply makes it more vertical by focusing on its electronics segment and leaving the idea of competing horizontally with other rivals.

 

Therefore, you will still be able to buy and sell electronics and computers on its portal.

Well, it would be more accurate to ask: what was Unilae, given the news we are discussing.

 

Unilae emerged as a logical way to evolve PC Componentes business. This company is a leader in its eCommerce area, even surpassing a giant like Amazon.

 

As much as it was a challenge, it seemed a logical option to grow by taking advantage of the infrastructure they already had in place, their logistics and distribution capacity, their physical stores... in short: their knowledge and resources.

That is why they created this marketplace under their umbrella, but with another brand. It is an eCommerce platform that allows sellers from other areas such as home, beauty, sports, garden and outdoor, DIY or toys, to offer their catalogs for sale as they do in any of the other existing platforms.

 

Its main advantage over Amazon and AliExpress is that, from the beginning, it has been committed to European manufacturers and distributors. With this they pursued a better shopping experience for the customer, which shortened delivery times while consuming proximity (always more sustainable) and had an equally closer management. Basically, they bet on trust.

  

Another of the weakest points of their competitors is the attention, not so much to the buyer as to the seller. These giant marketplaces do not offer very effective assistance to them and can be extremely hostile.

 

On paper, the idea was very good, to be honest. But then reality can be quite ruthless with projects.

According to the communiqué sent to those who had placed their trust in them, because they did not see the medium and long term viability of the project. Literally, the email they sent said:

"After deeply analyzing the possibilities of long-term growth and its sustainable viability, from Unilae we have finally taken the decision not to give continuity to the project".

It is pretty radical decision considering they had 400 sellers and over 250,000 products. It was obviously not Amazon, but as a start it seemed promising.

 

But of course, if we think about it cold, opening our catalog horizontally to cover more areas leads us to multiply not only the potential incidences, but also the casuistry. It is very different to sell technology than fashion, for example.

 

Moreover, it is possible that the differential advantages on which the project was based were not so decisive. The current context means that price takes precedence over proximity for many customers, to which we must add that, even if the manufacturers are Chinese or Indian, the logistical capacity means that waiting times are between reasonable and immediate.

 

On the other side of the coin, sellers, the response has been quite positive. However, it is not feasible to compete in terms of catalog volume with the large horizontals, much less in a short time horizon. It takes time and investment to be able to do so.

PC Componentes is the best example that we still have aces up our sleeves. Specialization or customization, even a good retail support, offer the customer aspects we can work on in our eCommerce and not in a marketplace.

 

As marketers, these types of platforms can be combined with selling through our own channels in a strategic way. Therefore, by closing Unilae, we are basically losing an opportunity.