Case Study

The grocery’s virtual store has been designed with advanced technology in order to deliver food and groceries as quickly as possible. Consumers can shop from anywhere via internet.

Mambo innovates in e-commerce

The solution – Mambo.com e-commerce platform, provided by VTEX, was conceived to deliver orders quickly. This technology is based on the omnichannel concept, which was designed to offer consumers an enhanced experience with easy access through their smartphones.

Main goals – To provide a wide selection of products (over 10,000 items) and quick deliveries of groceries and deep-frozen food, Mambo.com is fully integrated with the offline sector of the company (brick and mortar stores and distribution centers), which contributes for fast and effective data sharing.

“We were very attentive to details in

order to provide the best service to

our consumers. All products are sorted

according to their categories, packaged

and transported with all care”.

André Nassar, Business Director of Mambo Giga Brazil (MGB), a group

that controls Mambo Supermarkets and Giga Wholesale networks:

Mambo Supermarket network, established 33 years ago in São Paulo, opened

an online business in order to keep up with new market trends and a new consumer profile. Consumers these days are looking for a convenient and effective service and a healthier life style, as well. Mambo.com virtual store, looking forward to becoming one of the best online grocery retailer in Brazil, stands out for being able to deliver food and groceries on time and for making sure to maintain the same quality of the products found in all of the six brick and mortar Mambo stores in SP and in the Express franchising model store in Barueri (SP), as well.

Based on a VTEX e-commerce platform, Mambo online store is one of the most

advanced in terms of technology to offer innovation to consumers and ease their daily routine. The online store is ready from start to interact with consumers through social networks and can be easily accessed through smartphones and tablets.

Shop from anyplaceAn app developed for Apple iOS and Android System allows consumers to have easy access to Mambo.com virtual store through a smartphone or a tablet. “Since everyone in the city is always on the run, we developed tools that are not only safe but efficient as well, thus saving time. It’s much more convenient when you can shop for food and groceries from anyplace anytime. For instance, while

Case Study: Mambo

VTEX, founded in 1999, offer the best cloud omnichannel solution and the most complete in the market to assist businesses from various segments to go online. The leader of the segment in Latin America, with over 1000 clients, is present in 13 countries. For further information www.vtex.com.

you wait in a room for an appointment. We invested a lot to create platforms with Mambo quality. We intend to meet our customers’ needs and simplify their everyday lives.”, explains André Nassar, Business Director of Mambo Giga Brazil Group (MGB), which controls Mambo Supermarkets and Giga Wholesale networks.

Mr. Nassar believes that the advancement in the mobile telephone service in Brazil will boost the online grocery retail business. According to the National Agency of Telecommunication (Anatel) there are over 280 million mobile lines active in Brazil.

A smart solutionMambo.com virtual store was created to deliver groceries, produce and deep frozen food. To overcome the challenge of selling fresh items online, the virtual store is fully integrated with the brick and mortar stores and therefore shares information on stock with the distribution system of the retail chain.

According to Alexandre Soncini, vice-president of VTEX, Mambo e-commerce integrated operation is what really makes the difference. “Most online retail stores today work apart from their distribution centers, whereas the concept of ‘fresh’ demands quick and on-time deliveries, in short, effective logistics is essential.” points out the executive.

This online-offline integration makes a wide selection of over 10,000 items available to consumers via internet. “We paid total attention to details in order to offer the best service to our customers. The groceries are separated into categories, packaged and transported with care”, states Nassar.

“Shopping for groceries on the web on a regular basis has already become a common practice in other countries. We want our clients to try our service”, adds the executive. The retailer created campaigns with discount coupons in order to encourage regular customers to go shopping online, as well.

According to Soncini, Mambo’s e-commerce is definitely one of the most state-of-the-art in Brazil. Among other innovations, he points out the platform structure based on the omnichannel concept, which integrates both online and offline channels.

Mambo.com virtual store was developed in

order to make things easier for consumers when it comes to grocery shopping. The online store is supported by smart tools. Soncini explains how the search tool allows users to browse through multiple items at the same time and the option to “Repeat Orders” to make shopping lists thus speeding up the purchase process. In case one wishes to change their shopping lists, it can be easily done through smartphones and tablets any time.

The site also innovates by informing consumers about time of delivery. Soncini believes that it is quite helpful to know in advance when an order is getting delivered to your doorstep, especially if you are talking about fresh food, or even ingredients for a special occasion that are ordered in the last minute. Some simple things like that can really make the difference in the daily routine of consumers” adds VTEX VP.

“Culinary Recipes” at Mambo.com is another special feature. After the desired menu is selected, the ingredients necessary for the recipe will go straight into the buyer’s shopping cart. You can get information on how many people can be served, cost per person, time of preparation and even nutritional facts, such as lactose or gluten free options. What’s more, users can contribute, comment and share information on recipes via social networks.

User Experience“Our proposal is to offer our consumers such a pleasant shopping experience that they really feel like shopping back at Mambo.com”, said Maria Ercília Galvão Bueno, partner of Try Digital Agency, who was in charge of the project design. She did in-depth research on virtual groceries in the UK, the US and Brazil to offer the most convenient service. A closer look was taken at Amazon Fresh site, considered one of the most advanced online grocery retail business nowadays.

“A benchmarked study was conducted in order to develop a structure which could show that online grocery shopping can be as good as shopping in person is. We talked to the architect responsible for the aisle division of Mambo stores. The opinions of the consumers were taken into account as well. Our goal is to represent both the quality and variety offered by Mambo stores”- states Maria Ercília.

The presentation of the products endorsed with high-quality pictures and detailed descriptions are some of the results of such hard work. A special treatment was devoted to the image so that the texture and freshness of produce, fruit and meat were captured. “We focused on the concept of fresh. It’s a project that has soul and coherence”, points out the expert in digital architecture of online retail.

“Mambo.com is a vanguard project, due to the technological innovation and the valuable solution of on-time deliveries of groceries it offers.” sums up Ricardo Michelazzo, CEO of GS & Ecomm (e-commerce consultancy) and responsible for the content management and operation set-up. He adds that Brazilians spend a lot of money on food and the idea of making on-time deliveries of produce and fruit for instance is definitely a great business opportunity.

A Business OpportunityAccording to Andre Nassar, director of Mambo Giga Brazil Group (MGB), even though online food retail sales still represent a small percentage of the total online retail sales, he believes that the food retail segment will grow at a high rate alongside with the maturity of the online retailing in Brazil. A survey by e-Bit shows that the e-commerce in Brazil moved R$ 35,8 billion in 2014, growing by 17% in comparison with the previous year.

“We’re getting into the online food retail business because of a need of the market and Mambo couldn’t miss out on this opportunity. He considers that Brazil is now, much better prepared for the online grocery shopping, mostly due to the widespread use of the broadband internet throughout the country.

“As the non-food online retail is becoming more and more commonplace, food and beverage is very likely to become the new online retail market trend.” predict market analysts. A survey of 30 thousand consumers in 60 countries carried out by Nielsen, published in January 2015, reveals that 13% of consumers already shop for groceries online. This number tends to reach 58% within the next 6 or 10 years, driven mostly by the “millennium” generation, people who have always been in touch with technology therefore, at least for them, shopping for groceries on the web won’t be a big deal.