The results of the first quarter of 2026 for Grupo Sanborns generated a seemingly contradictory reading: sales grew by 3.5% compared to the same period the previous year, reaching 16,757.6 million pesos, but operating profit fell by 35%, leaving a margin of just 2%. Selling more and earning considerably less in the same period has a concrete explanation.
Grupo Carso, the owner of Sanborns, is executing a multi-million investment in modernizing its commercial systems. The focus of this transformation is on two platforms: an ERP enterprise management system from Oracle and a sales platform from Salesforce. Arturo Espínola, CFO of Grupo Carso, was explicit in presenting the results for the fourth quarter of 2025: "This is where we will concentrate our investment, with the goal of improving e-commerce, logistics, and customer experience." The implementation of these tools raises operating costs in the short term, which explains the drop in profitability while revenues continue to grow.
The slowdown in the opening of new stores is part of the same logic. At the end of 2025, Grupo Sanborns operated 469 points of sale, including stores and restaurants, compared to 451 at the end of 2024. For 2026, the company decided to moderate that expansion. "This year, there aren't many stores that will be opened," confirmed Espínola. Possible openings will focus on the Dax and iShop formats, where the company still identifies growth space. Regarding closures, the executive indicated that there could be some adjustments due to market rationalization, but nothing significant in terms of volume.
The objective that management made clear is to raise the operating margin above 6% by 2027, from the current 2%. This gap requires a change in operational logic: instead of growing in square meters, Sanborns is concentrating resources on stores that generate real value and in the technological infrastructure that allows them to operate more efficiently. The closures that have occurred, such as the one at the Galería Plaza de las Estrellas branch, respond to profitability criteria by location, not to a contraction of the brand. Carlos Slim Helú, honorary president of Grupo Carso, has repeatedly ruled out that there is a plan to eliminate this format.
The strengthening of the peso against the dollar also pressured the results of the quarter, affecting revenues in dollarized segments and modifying the cost structure. Despite this, Sanborns remains a significant pillar within Grupo Carso's portfolio, representing a significant proportion of the group’s consolidated sales.
For the next+ team, the Sanborns case illustrates a tension that many traditional retail operators face at this moment: digital transformation has a visible cost in the short term before producing measurable benefits. Reducing physical expansion, investing in ERP and CRM, and betting that technology will raise profitability per store instead of diluting it with more square meters is a strategic decision that the market tends to read as a sign of weakness when in reality it may be the right decision. The proof will come in the next quarters: if the implementation of Oracle and Salesforce translates into better conversion, more efficient logistics, and stronger e-commerce, the 6% margin for 2027 will cease to be a goal and become evidence that the model worked.