But I would say, you know, looking at the long-term strategy, now you know that we have the target of reaching 5% of revenues in about five years’ time. So, so far, we’ll continue to see that Mexico were around 1% of revenues, Brazil is around 2%. So that’s in general terms, what we’re seeing. We were testing other pilots here and there. But in general terms, I would say that is the strategy, you know, so it’s going well, but it’s something that’s going to take time because as Ian mentioned, also in previous calls, the core business is growing at a faster rate.
Ben Theurer: Okay, perfect. Well, thank you very much and congrats again.
Ian Craig: Thank you, Ben.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Ulises Argote of JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Ulises Argote: Hey, thanks so much for the specific questions. Just wanted to touch base with you on market share dynamics, particularly in Mexico, we have seen obviously some pressure there some strong ship with the b rents and all of that. Just wanted to get any updated views and thoughts there as to how this is evolving, and how this kind of fits in with the revenue growth management strategy that you were commenting earlier as the core focus for how to drive growth in the operations? Thank you.
Ian Craig: Hi. Thank you, Ulises. I mean, in terms of Mexico share, as I had mentioned before, we had a contract of five years of losing share, before we got to where we were losing about a point of share over the last five years. And this year, we’ve seen a very nice turnaround, the strategy is showing results. And I would say we’re not only gaining share, but above last year’s level. So we’re gaining share in a substantial way that we’re comfortable with. We’re not going to go all out and start some sort of worry doesn’t make sense for us or for the market that will be very disruptive, but strategies that we’ve done with the OBPPC adjustments with the launches that we have, they’re working well so the trend has been reversed. That’s what I can say you.
Ulises Argote: Okay, that’s super clear. Thanks so much for that. And then a follow-up if I may, just on kind of the cost in the hedge fund structure, obviously we’re starting to see some of those benefits already being reflected in the quarter. But if you can give us like an update on what to expect ahead, where the hedges kind of trending for the next couple of quarters in store opening?
Gerardo Cruz: Hi, Ulises I’ll take the hedging part of the question. In terms of FX, right now, as we’ve disclosed previously, we have a process that has a 12-month rolling hedging strategy. And as we get closer to 2024, we expect that our FX position for the year will be hedged at a range between 30% to 50% of our FX exposure for all of our currencies. So that’s our regular process. Right now, we’re not very concerned in terms of FX as we are seeing favorable FX environments across so we think that we have with the exception of Argentina, of course. We have good opportunities to put those hedging positions on for the next. Regarding commodities, as of today, we have a very good hedge position for both HFCS and aluminum for our Mexico operation, we are still building better hedging position for aluminum in Brazil, as well as sugar in Brazil.
And for PET, where we’ve been seeing a favorable environment up to now we expect to increase our hedging position for next year to around 50%, just taking care of risks that we are seeing geopolitical risks that could affect oil prices. And that should lead to higher PET prices moving forward.
Jorge Collazo: I think Ulises with regards to trends now and especially now as we approach the end of the year and some general comments with regards to 2024, I would say that the only watch out that we have been looking at is higher sugar prices. Now as we mentioned in the release, we are seeing higher sugar prices across our markets. Now there are markets like in Brazil, where we do have hedge position and that should help us mitigate, but certainly is one commodity that’s higher year-on-year and we expect that to continue during 2024.
Ulises Argote: Okay, no, that is perfect. Thanks so much for answering that.
Gerardo Cruz: Thanks.
Jorge Collazo: Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Luis Willard of GBM. Please go ahead.
Luis Willard: Hi, guys. Hi, Gerry and Jorge. Thanks for taking my questions. So, I just wanted to clarify, I figured out that I heard your prepared remarks. You said that – you just put out in Mexico serving or has a 66% penetration of traditional trade. Is that number of customers? I imagine so or is it sales?
Gerardo Cruz: No that’s order – orders.
Luis Willard: Perfect. So would you say that a significant part of the benefits from digitalization occurrence of orders, size or drop sizes for visit et cetera are already baked in your top line in Mexico? Or do you still see plenty of more opportunities there to enhance top line?
Gerardo Cruz: Could you repeat the question now? Could you repeat please, sorry?
Luis Willard: Yeah, I’ll do it. Is it better?
Gerardo Cruz: Yes.
Luis Willard: All right. So 66% penetration of orders are digital. My question is, would you say that a significant part of the benefits that are you expected from the license to trade beats order recurrence, size of these orders or drop sizes per visit are already baked in your top line or do you still see more opportunities to enhance your top line in Mexico as a result of digitalization?
Gerardo Cruz: No, I think that what we’ve done so far is baked in to what we’ve seen so far. But I think we do see still a lot of upside. We’re only launching the 4.0 version of the app in Mexico in this quarter. So there’s still a lot – everything is primarily done or the vast majority by our Chatbot. So we’re going to be launching the app in Mexico with a loyalty plan. And that’s going to be a big boost. And at the same time, we’re also going to put in flexible out of route distribution. Once the app gets in, they’ll probably be in by the fourth quarter. And what we’ve seen in other markets, such as Brazil, when that happens is we get increased frequency and an uptick in sales. So, I would say no, there’s still an upside.
Ian Craig: And Luis I wanted to go back to correct myself on the percentage, actually the 66%, it is clients on the traditional trade. And then if you look at orders, that number is around 34% of total orders in Mexico that are digital today. So just wanted to go back and clarify that point.
Luis Willard: Perfect, thank you. Thank you very much for the clarification. So, I mean, having only the Chatbot doing primarily the digital function here. Is it purchasing so as you said, we’re only seeing the low-hanging fruit of this digitalization thing.
