Innovations such as the creation of business ecosystems, the cross border and the metaverse should drive changes in the sector, discussed during VTEXDay, which took place in SP
The paths of retail brands in their points of contact with customers in digital gain new perspectives all the time. And they lead to a routine of business transformation, with the emergence of new structured models, almost always, to find the consumer at the most appropriate time and place.
These are scenarios that create trends such as business ecosystems, built by various business verticals, such as Mercado Livre and Magazine Luiza; the cross border, a cross-border trade as perceived with the arrival of Chinese companies in Brazil; and the metaverse, the new future space of conversations and transactions.
“These are acquisitions, investments and new business initiatives that manage to detach the business from the environment of origin in search of exponential growth”, said Alberto Serrentino, founder of Varese Retail, when talking about the potential of ecosystems at VTEXDay, which ended yesterday ( 13) in Sao Paulo.
Eduardo Terra, president of the Brazilian Society of Retail and Consumption, explains that the cross border can also be a way for Brazilian brands to enter other markets. He uses the Chinese e-commerce Tmall to make a comparison, a space where there are more than a thousand Australian companies and only 15 from Brazil. “Brazilian brands can use digital to accelerate the expansion process”, he believes.
About the much-talked about metaverse, Terra works with two perspectives: short and medium term, with the creation of services and products that will only be consumed virtually; and the long term, with operations that will in fact connect the physical and the virtual, creating a kind of retail 4.0.
In turn, Julia Rueff, head of marketplace at Mercado Livre, adds other trends that the sector should be aware of. The first is in relation to the improvement of services, with faster and more efficient deliveries, a demand that has grown a lot in recent times.
The executive also sees room for digital retail penetration in other categories that today still depend a lot on physical space, such as fashion, supermarkets and beauty. And new sales channels, such as live streaming, activation that has expanded worldwide as a way of establishing connections with consumers and bringing them closer to moments of experimentation.
“The free market will invest 17 billion reais this year, 70% more than last year. Values based on what we understand as trends for the future and trends for the present as well”, says Rueff.
The connection between digital channels has also shown important gains for Grupo Boticário, according to Maria Isabel Miranda, executive director of Beleza na Web and Beauty Box. She says that from the moment they connected the assets of the group, which brings together brands such as O Boticário, Quem disse Berenice?, Eudora and Vulti, and turned trends into business strategies, growth “has been very strong”.
“Within Beauty on the Web and Beauty Box, what I can highlight is this connection between brands, professionals and influencers. This is very strong within the beauty market for the escalation of our marketplace. And social commerce and live commerce as very important factors because the beauty consumer has a demand for content, experimentation and references”, he explains.
Fun e-commerce
Much of the evolution of global digital retail has seen a mirror in China, as in the case of live shopping, which was born in 2016 with Alibaba launching Taobao Live. Today, more than 50% of total retail sales in the Asian country are made by ecommerce, which works with an estimate of closing 2022 moving almost US$ 1.5 trillion, according to emarketer data. And retail social commerce recorded $351.6 billion in 2021 versus $36.6 billion in the United States, according to the same research source.
No wonder Zia Wigder, Chief Content Officer at Insider Intelligence, tells the market not to ignore social shopping trends. “The actions will not be identical to those carried out there, but do not ignore them. You could miss a great opportunity.”
According to the expert, one of the attractions of shopping strategies is that they are created to be fun and entertain potential consumers. “They’re about the experience, about having fun,” she says.
Another example is the Pinduoduo proposal, which offers discounts based on group purchases and ends up generating shares and actions among friends so that they can buy cheaper products. In Brazil, Magazine Luiza launched something similar with the tool “Buy Together” in your app.
