From 5 years to 20 days in terms of the digital transformation of companies was the line of eCommerce leaders in the region who gathered at eCommerce Immersion LATAM 2020: practical cases, advice and tips to boost online business in these times.

VTEX, the unified commerce platform in Latin America that provides services to brands and retailers in 28 countries, held the eCommerce Immersion Latam, which brought together for the first time experts and companies from different industries in the region to talk about the current global context of eCommerce, the importance of technology and the digital transformation that companies are experiencing in record time, through practical cases, advice and tips to address the challenges and enhance the growth of online business.

Highlights of the Main Speakers:

Darío Schilman, Country Manager, VTEX Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay:

We are social beings and we need to interact but the return to the physical store, to retail, is going to be very careful: eCommerce is here to stay and will be the new way of buying for a large number of people who did not do so before.

The important thing is to have technology that accompanies peaks in demand, to have an expert team and to be aware of all the processes from end to end of the operation.

We are facing a new paradigm of revaluation of the square meter: Great care must be taken with the client's own physical space, the experience has to be taken care of in every sense: there is going to be a transformation in the physical space: everything is yet to be done and to come.

There will be an advent of pure players and dark stores.

In Argentina, ecommerce has been growing 50% per year, it has a very good maturation: Companies that began their digital process a few years ago today see their sales in eCommerce double and those that adopted the digital channel recently are seeing its advantages and benefits and what they are gaining day by day.

All industries can and should ride the wave of digital transformation.

Sebastian Sasson, President and CEO of Arredo:

Since we had to close all the stores, our first concern was how to continue maintaining the link with customers and neighbors: how to be close and how to keep the link on.

We join the technological and the historical point through our experience hosts doing a “refoundation of the seller”.

We had to start transmitting the soul of the brand through the digital channel.

We use the latest technologies in digital tools such as the VTEX shared cart and we begin to train the offline sales force by adding them to the call center, creating the personal shopper by telephone and also through the website.

We convert the sales force to digital.

The Social seller and influencer was used as a tool to be closer to customers.

ECommerce eliminates friction and generates sustainability in the world of commerce.

Live the change towards eCommerce as something permanent in the world of sales and in the world of retail. Sponsor it as much as possible, learning with the channel.

Mariano Tordó, Ecommerce & Marketing Director of Farmacity:

We had to accelerate everything due to the new context: in 2 weeks we did what in normal times we would have done in 3 or 4 months.

We launched an exclusive call center line: a telephone line to assist the segment far from technology, especially designed for older adults.

We generate a digital tool for Vaccination Days.

We developed a tool to reserve medicines and check the availability of medicines online and another to send medicines to your home: through a web form to upload prescriptions and bring the medicines closer to your home.

We are accelerating the development of ecommerce in Get The Look, our Beauty line.

ECommerce accelerated and grew by 70% and is sustained over time.

Thanks to the capillarity of physical stores, we began to prepare orders in the stores: 300 orders are prepared per day per store.

Our value proposition is naturally omnichannel and stores are the key to being able to meet order demand. Locals are going to have to change their operating modality.

ECommerce already has other margins and has quadrupled its participation in the business.

There are also opportunities for pure players and dark stores.

Alberto Calvo, General Director of Netshoes:

We should never waste a good crisis because it gives us the opportunity to start everything again.

Understand that the role of technology is very important: eCommerce appeared as a great opportunity and a great responsibility.

We convert the offline sales force online, especially for the company's call center.

We implemented social selling, training salespeople at our 120 points of sale.

We put together 2 work teams: one focused on the day to day and another focused on the day after to visualize new demands and opportunities.

The conversion of the physical premises is going to happen much faster than expected.

Norberto Cerasale, Head of Omnichannel Logistics at Walmart:

At Walmart, what customers use the most is the pick up store.

At the beginning of the quarantine we had to do a very quick catch-up to match sales volume and home delivery.

The important thing was the optimization of processes, management and having the appropriate indicators to measure efficiency and operating expenses but above all customer service.

ECommerce is a culture that is already going to be installed.

Understanding the business from end to end is key to a successful operation.

Cristhian Zambrano, Corporate Director of e-Commerce and Digital Media of Grupo Uribe Colombia:

We had to readapt, rethink concepts and reinvent ourselves to move forward.

We realized that in the online channel we can consolidate the brand, sales and positioning.

At Grupo Uribe we are investing exactly the same in advertising, optimizing the advertising in the online channel.

We generate small campaigns for small audiences, which leads us to do more marketing campaigns.

Daniel López, Assistant Manager of E-Commerce at Coca-Cola Chile:

We accelerated the plans we were working on, especially in supermarkets and last mile applications, and that made it easier for us to activate.

We bet that the coronavirus was here to stay and we reinforced the operation and plans while maintaining the level of service.

The tone is set especially where our clients are and are looking for us and we are right now generating online promotions aimed at virtual videoconferences.