One of the largest events in the industry worldwide, Fórum E-commerce Brasil brought together experts and market leaders to discuss the main opportunities and challenges of the current and future Brazilian e-commerce, present relevant data to support strategic decisions, and exchange ideas on how businesses can stand out in a context of intense competition and uncertainty.
Since Brazil is a leading online sales market, and the #1 country in Latin America for domestic and cross-border merchants, we went there to bring you the best insights from the major event, so you can get new ideas to innovate in your online store as well as improve your strategies when selling to Brazilian customers. Enjoy!
AI remains a key topic at any event, and at Fórum E-commerce Brasil, the focus turned to the technology’s impact on consumer experience. While your online store can leverage Artificial Intelligence to deeply understand your audience and offer the right product at the right time, the way users make purchasing decisions in the digital environment is also being profoundly transformed.
Gleidys Salvanha, Director of Retail Business at Google Brazil, highlighted several ways AI tools are transforming the entire online consumption journey:
- Consumers no longer rely solely on written descriptions of what they’re looking for — today, search is multimodal, combining text, voice, and image;
- 1 in every 5 queries made with Google Lens has a commercial intent — the physical and digital worlds are increasingly blending;
- 75% of commercial searches have a broad scope, meaning consumers are exploring products and making purchasing decisions based on what they find in search results;
- Google is piloting a feature that will allow consumers to upload a photo of themselves and try on clothes virtually.
In this context, online sellers must ensure their e-commerce is accessible and relevant not only to human consumers but also to AI models, which need to be able to find their products based on the new ways users are searching online.
Rafael de Araujo from WGSN emphasized that Brazilians are more optimistic about AI than the global average, further reinforcing the importance of the e-commerce sector embracing the technology — your consumers in Brazil most likely already are.
The growth of Brazilian e-commerce in the next few years will come from increased frequency and spending by existing online shoppers, rather than from an expansion of the digital consumer base — at least that’s what data from eMarketer presented by Zia Daniell Widger, Chief Content Officer at the research firm, suggests.
Although Brazil remains one of the most digitally connected countries in the world, the time spent daily on social media and messaging apps is declining: while Brazilians currently spend an average of 3 hours and 35 minutes online — second only to South Africa —, this total has been decreasing since 2023, when the average was 3 hours and 46 minutes per day.
Zia believes that the time dedicated to being online has reached a plateau — but Brazilian e-commerce is still expected to grow by 10% in the coming years. How can businesses benefit from this? By nurturing their customer communities and focusing on reaching new audiences who are online but haven’t yet purchased from their brand.
She highlighted women over 50 as a key audience — they have purchasing power but still feel overlooked by brands. We discussed this in our South by Southwest coverage, highlighting key factors to reach this and other new audiences:
Victor Sofiatti, Director of Data and Media at L'Oréal, seems to agree. For him, while data is important, brands still need to create relevant content to stand out in sales — turning it into entertainment and crafting stories that connect with the current context and ongoing conversations.
After all, he believes our most valuable currency today is leisure time. In this precious moment, how will your brand stand out among the thousands that appear in people’s feeds every day?
Creating stories that evoke emotion and connect with your target audience might be the way forward: “Currently, 74% of people affirm they are loyal to brands, and we see much more significant results when we manage to establish that emotional connection,” the executive emphasized. To get there, his final tip is to actively use the data collected from all campaigns and actions to engage consumers.
From AI to hyper personalization to communications that actually engage your customers, it all comes down to data: the better you can analyze all that you know about your customers and make connections between the different touchpoints they have with your business, the better.
With customers that navigate between your brick-and-mortar and your online stores spending around six times more than those that only purchase online or only purchase in person – according to data presented by merchants at the forum –, it is clear that an omnichannel operation is not a trend; it is a must. However, for it to truly make a difference in how you communicate and engage with your customers, you must make use of the valuable data you have in your hands.
It is data that powers AI, personalized product offerings, and campaigns that arrive at the right channel at the right time. But if you keep the information about online shopping behavior, the data about your physical stores, and social media metrics completely siloed from each other, you are not going to be able to have a customer-focused omnichannel strategy.
Social media platforms are increasingly investing in their power to influence consumption — as expected, Fórum ECBR focused heavily on this, especially with the recent arrival of TikTok Shop in Brazil. According to eMarketer data, the platform could account for between 5% and 9% of Brazil’s total e-commerce volume, but that depends on how (and if) brands embrace the feature.
Regardless, it’s undeniable that social media has immense influence over purchasing decisions, with Social Selling emerging as an evolution of that. Although TikTok Shop is new in Brazil, the feature has existed since 2021 in other regions, such as Southeast Asia.
Eric Chien, Fashion Category Lead, and Gustavo Mondo, Home & Living Category Lead at TikTok, shared insights into the power of Social Selling through TikTok Shop. According to them:
Brazilians are very active on Tik Tok and can be highly influenced by content on the platform not only to buy, but to connect with your brand. Therefore, you should definitely look further into understanding if your audience in Brazil is using Tik Tok as heavily as the average in the country and, if so, create a strategy specifically tailored to the social media app.
When thinking about strategies to boost sales on social media, beyond Social Selling, influencer marketing continues to play a significant role. Showing three short videos from creators on TikTok, Gustavo Mondo shared that they generated over R$50,000 in sales — and none of the videos were longer than 30 seconds.
Additionally, 68% of people perceive TikTok Shop creators as “close” to them, with three out of four users saying they find them credible, and 71% seeing authenticity in these creators. In other words, they’re “just like us”, and that is a powerful way to build community around your brand.
“A video or a brand promotion always has a bias — obviously you’re saying the product is good, it’s your product! But when you bring in a specialist to talk about that product, their feed needs to be consistent, and they must talk about what they genuinely like,” Gustavo emphasized.
Especially if your company is just starting to target the Brazilian market, influencer marketing can be a good way to leverage a creator’s authority and engagement to boost your brand within a new audience.
Ever since attending South by Southwest 2025, we have been discussing how the uncertainty we are living through impacts the way we think about trends and predictions. At Fórum ECBR, specialists also dove into the impacts on present consumer habits: with customers less willing to spend thoughtlessly, it becomes even more important to showcase the value of your products and build a sense of community with your customers.
“Is your business ready for the future?” That was the thought-provoking question Gleidys Salvanha from Google used to close her presentation.
More than ever, it’s clear that being “ready for the future” means being deeply aligned with what your consumer is looking for and having the adaptability to adjust your course with that focus at the center — .creating the connections that invite your consumer to be part of the future your business is shaping.
Now is the time to invest in the growth of your e-commerce and seize market opportunities to get closer to consumers and innovate to go further and further. For more insights and tips to boost your business, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter by filling in the form on the right!
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