Are you thinking of internationalizing your business? would you like to start sell in ? Don’t miss our new one because I’m sure you’ll be interested. At least, to know the reasons that move many European projects to look for new clients there.
we tell you how is consumption and the digital market in Brazil, and what steps you must take to internationalize your company. In episode 24 we will enter the giant of Latin America with the help of Felipe Pereiraa Brazilian from Barcelona that helps global firms to enter one of the ten largest markets in the world in eCommerce from their project Sell2Brazil.
Interview with Felippe Pereira (Sell2Brazil)
03:09 How did a Paulista like you end up in Barcelona?
I studied Marketing in São Paulo and my first job was at a technology school. That was my first contact with eCommerce. I learned a lot. After this five-year experience in Brazil, I really wanted to see the world and keep in touch with the world of technology, eCommerce and the commercial area. I lived in Mexico, California, Holland, Marseille and four years ago I arrived in Barcelona.
04:33 In Europe you began to lead internationalization projects towards Brazil.
When I arrived in Amsterdam I started working in a SaaS company (Software as a Service). At that time this company already had the Brazilian market. I spoke Portuguese, obviously, and although that was not my goal at first, I soon realised, on the one hand, that the Brazilian market is huge in the eCommerce sector, and on the other, that there is a great lack of technology. Companies want more, but can’t find what they need.
05:50 Why is selling in Brazil a good choice if we think about internationalizing?
Brazil is one of the ten largest markets in the world in eCommerce. It has an approximate volume of 700,000 virtual stores. Every year it grows between 15 and 20%. Less than 4% of retail sales are made online. There is a very large growth potential.
06:46 Is it a recommendation for all types of companies or fundamentally for those that offer a service for online stores?
I decided to specialize in the eCommerce and Software as a Service sector because it is a digital product and because there is this demand. There is no direct competition because the products developed there are different. You arrive with an innovative proposal and you are very well received. It is a market open to new products.
08:00 The Brazilian market has a reputation for being protectionist. It is said that he prefers his own products and that it is difficult to profit from them. Do you agree?
Yes, Brazilian companies always look for local solutions. First, for financial reasons. If they buy software in the United States or Europe, they need an international credit card. By default, banks block all international payments. In B2B businesses it is very difficult to convince an entrepreneur to take out their card and make a payment. That’s why it is very important to have a company open there to be able to bill locally and natively, preventing customers from paying unnecessary fees to hire your services. Second, the support and the language. Brazil is a giant territory. There are entrepreneurs and companies that do not feel the need to learn other languages to expand. So it is necessary to have a presence there to make them feel that the company has something Brazilian.
10:23 This is how internationalization gets complicated: you need a local company and at least one Brazilian person.
It depends on the product you sell and the price. If you sell something below $100 it’s easier. If you sell one more solution enterprise, with a higher cost, the way is to work with a partner that is in Brazil and that can invoice these clients. For the customer service part It is important to have a Brazilian persona. And beware of the temptation to put a Portuguese on the phone, because although they speak the same language they have different ways to solve a problem. You will have more success with a Brazilian in the team who can check in with local conditions.
11:40 How different are Brazilians, culturally?
We are very practical. Let’s go straight to the point. When it comes to solving a problem, we feel that culture counts a lot. If you are Brazilian you can anticipate what that person needs, you can go directly to the focus of the matter and solve it. It will be more difficult for someone from another culture to understand and solve the problem. That creates stress and creates a distance between the brand and customers. The feeling is conveyed that ‘this company was not made especially for me’.
13.04 Is it very complicated to create a local company in Brazil?
It may be somewhat more difficult than in Europe, but not much. Registering as self-employed is simple, for example, but more so for a Brazilian. For a foreigner who wants to open a company and sell in Brazil, there are other ways. You can create a company with a Brazilian or you can enter with an Investor Visa. If you arrive in Brazil with 30,000 or 50,000 euros you already get it, it is not necessary to have millions.
13:55 With the Investor Visa you don’t need a local partner.
Not necessarily. You will be able to open your own bank account, you will have your own tax data, and you will be able to start on your own. Also, Spain and Brazil maintain very good relations. If you have a company in Brazil, you invoice and pay your taxes, when you send the money to Spain you do not need to pay taxes again. All you have to do is fill in some specific forms. This type of agreement no longer exists with other countries. For example, with , country of origin of Edronea project that we are accelerating in Brazil.
15:49 Is it usual in Brazil to find more German or Polish companies than Spanish ones? Here we think first of other Spanish-speaking countries.
Yes, because the language makes things much easier. But we must not lose sight of the Brazilian market is the largest in Latin America. It is bigger than the Mexican and the Argentine combined. So it is worth learning a little Portuguese.
16:44 Can the arrival of Jair Bolsonaro affect digital businesses?
I don’t share his ideals at all, but I think that from a business point of view it can be positive. A more conservative, right-wing government is likely to be more focused on the economic side. Since he has arrived, Brazil’s currency, the real, has appreciated a bit. The efforts that the previous government dedicated to social policies, this one will dedicate to the economy. Bolsonaro is crazy, in my opinion, but he will pay more attention to business.
18:07 How is the experience of moving to Brazil edrone, a Polish CRM tool?
We are having a lot of success. I met them at an eCommerce event in London and later ran into them again in Lisbon. This is how we started the project. Now we have been in Brazil for more than a year. We have eight people in the team and we have more than 70 clients in the brazilian market. It is a profitable operation, thanks also to the software, quite innovative for what is done there.
CRM for eCommerce is not widely used. This option is not considered due to the volume of visits and the difficulties in transferring all this data to a CRM. That is why the work he does is so important. It uses artificial intelligence to recognize each visit, monitor it and understand its behavior very well, the tendency of each consumer, to personalize communications in a second moment. This is the key. That is why edrone represents such an important return on investment for our clients in Brazil.
21:22 And for price, is it designed for large databases?
We do not charge for the size of the databases. We charge for emails sent. But not everything is focused on emails. We have Web Push notifications, SMS, personalization of the website itself through recommended products on the home page, category page, product file, 404 error. All of this greatly personalizes the user experience in the store, which significantly increases sales. In some cases up to 65%.
22:38 How is digital consumption in Brazil? Is it different from Europe?
Facebook has incredible reach. Instagram is growing a lot. And WhatsApp is something brutal. Being free, it is a very interesting channel to be exploited. As for marketplaces, Amazon is starting to grow now, but in Brazil we have a giant, the leader of marketplaces: .
Until a couple of years ago, 30% of all Brazilian web traffic went through this site. Also we have , the largest eCommerce group in Brazil, which brings together two or three marketplaces. In recent years they have gained a lot of space in the Brazilian market, as in Spain, although a virtual store should not be based exclusively on a marketplace. You have to know how to exploit it with strategic products, but not give it all the traffic and advertising.
27:00 In addition, selling in Brazil will not be easy even for an Amazon if we take into account the logistical requirements.
The main barrier to the growth of eCommerce in Brazil is logistics because the growth of cities and communication routes were somewhat improvised, and there are no great alternatives in terms of transportation. A strike in the sector brings great losses to the trade.
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