Correo Compras, the online trading service that Alberto Fernandez launched to compete with Mercado Libre, is closed.

Just over three years after launch, the government confirmed Closing “Purchase mail”service that was in the orbit of Correo Argentino and which the management of Alberto Fernandez launched as try to compete with Mercado Libre in online trading.

It was in October 2020 that the leadership of the then President launched a platform that allowed companies, factories or cooperatives to sell their products online and with the benefit that the logistics of transmission through Correo Argentino implied.

Additionally, the goal was to take advantage of the exponential growth in online sales during the coronavirus pandemic and try to compete with the company Marcos Halperinone of the businessmen most questioned by Kirchnerism.

“Argentina is the eighth largest country in the world and we need connectivity to be a public policy, a priority policy. In this sense, we are creating greater interconnectedness and greater federalism,” Santiago Cafiero, then chief of staff, said that day. representations in society.

On this occasion he was accompanied by Matthias Kulfas. “We are convinced, first of all, that this platform is a more direct way of achieving benefits for the whole society, for the manufacturer, because it is an opportunity for more direct contact, reducing transaction costs; for the consumer who will benefit from lower prices,” said the head of the Ministry of Industrial Production.

It was a launch that had the feel of the times, with social distancing and an audience that included Economy Minister Martín Guzmán in chinstraps and masks.

“There is no state without businessmen and women. And there are no businessmen and women without a state. We must move the country forward together,” Cafiero concluded on October 16, 2020.

Three years and four months later, the final warning came. “Correo Argentino announces that from Thursday, February 29, 2024, the online shopping platform www.correocompras.com.ar will stop working both on purchasing and selling products“, the government said in a brief statement confirming the decision, dated the same Thursday.

The text also informs those who have recently purchased the products that “both communication channels and the regret button will continue to function normally until operations cease completely.”

Indeed, after closing, the official website displays the logo and the main image, on which the “Contact” and “Regret Button” buttons are superimposed. The product portfolio is already a thing of the past.

Halperin did not miss the opportunity to question this initiative by the Albertista administration and, shortly after learning of the closure, described it as “fraudulent taxpayers“.

“Correocompras” was developed by Correo Argentino and the Ministry of Productive Development, headed at that time by Kulfas. Some time later, then-Vice President Christina Kirchner called him one of the “non-working officials.” And he was removed from office after distributing WhatsApp messages in which he blamed the CTF.

His initial portfolio focused on technology devices, home appliances, hygiene and cleaning products, and food products. Brands participating in the launch included Samsung, Phillips, LC, Arcor, Unilever and Molinos Río de la Plata.

The service’s first offerings on its platform now stand in contrast to the scandalous rise of products due to inflation. Back then, at the end of 2020, they were offering everything from products like milk for $75 a liter, a 100g pack of olives for $31.49, or containers of gel spirit (a government-regulated boom amid shortages) for $163 . .

All with one differential offer to stand out among competitors and start building your establishment: free shipping, without purchasing a floor thanks to Correo Argentino logistics.

Lately, the main offerings have been focused on small appliances and personal appliances (smartwatches and clocks, now with the promise of “flat-rate shipping nationwide” and free delivery with a “low minimum purchase”). Prices They have also been adapted: in February, regional alfajores went on sale for 28 pieces for $19,600, two liter bottles of olive oil for $26,999 and a pack of 5 cans of “premium” green olives for $21,680.

In Correo Argentino’s latest balance sheet, corresponding to 2022, it maintained its ideals. “To supply quality products to all residents of the Argentine territory at the best price on the market, with the same logistics costs, achieving equal opportunities for both sellers and competitors,” said the concept of the Mission.

He planned to become “the most number one platform for marketing regional productssupporting the productive development of each region of the country.”

In this sense, the August 2021 announcement worked: joining the Super Cerca program, which sought to deliver 57 of the 70 products that make up the basic basket at fixed prices until December of that year.

This Thursday, Correo Argentino finally completed its online trading project.

Correo Argentino is also one of 41 members of a list of state-owned companies that Javier Miley wanted to privatize through an omnibus law that ultimately failed in Congress.