Latin America’s e-commerce industry continues to boom as opposed to the prevalent belief of the region being dominated by old-economy sectors like oil and lumber. Today, tech has become a significant part of the local economy due to the pandemic and a thriving middle class with discerning taste and disposable income.
The digital transformation left the theory behind and went into practice in all retail segments, including construction materials and supermarkets. As per the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the sales volume of retail trade in Brazil increased by 1.2 percent, with a growth of 6 percent in nominal income in the last two years. The appearance of more than 150,000 new virtual stores—with the migration of small and large businesses to the web—is one of the critical drivers of this growth.
The storage, analysis, and organized management of data are other key elements and significant technological differentials in the segment. Knowing how to explore the information retrieved enables businesses to deepen their knowledge of the customer’s profile and better personalize the consumer’s experience.
New payment methods and systems like Pix (Central Bank Instant Payment System) have also boosted the transformation by streamlining services such as transferring money, paying bills, and even collecting taxes. The optimization of payment processes through simplified mechanics has resulted in rapid confirmation of transactions, ultimately leading to reduced delivery times.
As customers look for personalization, convenience, agility, security, and ease in their shopping experiences, solutions that can identify the consumers’ needs by analyzing their purchase history, habits, and preferences will minimize friction and interruptions in sales.
Next-generation retail architecture is powered by omnichannel integration, datafication, and highly modular, microservice-based architecture to unlock the flexibility and scalability for a distinctive customer experience. To ensure radical transformation, the retail sector must activate the technology lever in terms of operating model and tech architecture.
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