Bogotá's Gran San shopping center faces crisis due to the rise of digital commerce

The Gran San shopping center, located in the San Victorino sector of Bogotá , is experiencing a difficult economic situation due to the rise of digital commerce.

Several employees have been laid off following a significant decline in sales, attributed to increasing competition from foreign platforms offering cheaper products without paying taxes in Colombia.

San Victorino, known as the heart of popular commerce in the Colombian capital, is home to more than 11,000 small business owners.

According to AsoSanVictorino, the sector has seen a decline in buyer traffic in recent years, especially outside of peak seasons.

Local merchants say that rising operating costs, insecurity, and competition from imported products, particularly those from China, are severely impacting their income.

The manager of the Gran San shopping center, Mauricio Alarcón, told Pulzo that many businesses have had to reduce their staff to cope with the decline in revenue.

In his opinion, small retailers are unable to compete with the low prices offered by digital platforms.

According to a report by Fenalco, annual losses due to this unfair competition and smuggling amount to more than 3 billion pesos.

This situation is exacerbated by the "de minimis" provision, which allows the entry of foreign products valued at less than $200 without paying VAT or tariffs.

Salomón Asor, representative of AsoSanVictorino, asked the Government and the DIAN to update the legislation to regulate electronic commerce.

" It's not fair that Chinese products enter our country without paying taxes, while we do ," he told the newspaper 'La República'.

Despite the difficulties, the "madrugón" (early morning) and "trasnochón" (night-afternoon) celebrations—symbolic commercial traditions of San Victorino—continue to attract shoppers, especially during the holiday season. According to merchants, these events represent key opportunities to recover some of the lost sales.

*This content was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on publicly available information released to media outlets. It was also reviewed by a journalist and an editor.