Suiteshare, which recently joined the VTEX family, is a platform that enables brands and retailers to sell and provide customer service via WhatsApp, a very popular channel used by more than 2 billion people in the world. The umbrella concept tied to this offering is called conversational commerce, but as Founder and CEO of Suiteshare Maicon Ferreira likes to put it, Suiteshare “starts the conversation in commerce,” first in Brazil, then in LATAM and now across the globe – and it has plenty of examples to prove it.
Conversational commerce is on a rise. But beyond the logical marriage of commerce and communications in today’s society lie other factors pumping up the trend: trust. Research from Facebook shows that 66% of consumers are more confident about making a purchase when a company is active on messaging apps. And what better way to build trust than by being available to customers on the most popular messaging platform?
Globally, WhatsApp is the most used messaging app in the world, with an astounding 100 billion messages being sent daily. In terms of audiences, India leads the way with almost 400 million users, followed by Brazil with 109 million.
Indeed, according to Statista, 98% of Brazilian smartphones have WhatsApp installed, which sheds some light on why a platform such as Suiteshare has taken the world of Brazilian retail by storm. WhatsApp has also released its money transferring services in Brazil, meaning that end-to-end conversational commerce is becoming a reality in the country.
But Brazil is just the first step on the ladder and the rest of the globe awaits. In addition to expanding its money transferring services, the messaging platform is already preparing a fruitful environment for commercial activities with WhatsApp for Business, a WhatsApp version where shop owners can create product catalogs. All in all, retailers everywhere should look towards tackling WhatsApp as their first conversational commerce channel – the giant is expected to continue to grow despite already having a big chunk of the market.
Suiteshare is an inbound channel, meaning the customer starts the conversation and can then ask questions and purchase without registration. But how does it actually work?
Well, customers can click on WhatsApp website widgets, customized links and pop-ups with CTAs, scan QR codes or enter a chat, all provided by Suiteshare. Customers will then be asked to directly choose what store to talk to or input their information – in a form or a conversational chatbot, which converts better to the business. In the latter flow, Suiteshare then assigns the query to the sales team using the customer’s geolocation. Then, it either further distributes it in a sequential order (i.e. automatically) to individual sales representatives or allows them to manually handpick the inquiry. Once a conversation is started, customers can ask for details of products or even place an order.
Overall, the customer’s buying journey is significantly shorter and personalized, improving the odds of securing a conversion way quicker than normal. Not to mention leads are automatically created in the retailer’s CRM system, in the desired funnel and stage, linked to the correct salesperson. Last but not least, analytics and reports offer much-needed insights into the lead generation process and the data collected is easily used for remarketing purposes (e.g. Pixels, follow-up WhatsApp conversations, ads on social media.)
But the most wonderful thing about Suiteshare is that the customer eventually speaks to a live agent, and that a direct and human relationship is established, a precious thing in a world of continuous digitalization. Communication can be the glue between online and offline to deliver true omnichannel commerce experiences.
Prior to being acquired by VTEX, Suiteshare had already connected 10 million shoppers to more than 400 brands and retailers. Among that vast lineup, there were also some VTEX customers such as Tramontina, The North Face, Track & Field, Hope, Lupo, Animale and Farm Rio (part of Grupo Soma) that were able to fully validate WhatsApp as an additional commerce channel.
For instance, at Track & Field, a Brazilian fitness fashion brand, Suiteshare drove an increase of more than 340% in average monthly clicks on the ecommerce website in the span of five months. Additionally, The North Face Brazil implemented the tool for all of its physical stores in just one day.
There are plenty more conversational commerce examples powered by Suiteshare, but here are three that you should definitely know about.
Tramontina, Brazilian at origins, is a century-old company that manufactures cookware, cutlery and home appliances. Plenty of our own kitchens are stocked with Tramontina products, thanks to a wide-spread presence across 120 countries which in Brazil, USA, Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Chile also includes a direct-to-consumer (DTC) digital channel powered by VTEX.
Tramontina Brazil desired to support customers not only through an ecommerce chat, but also through direct communication with sales associates from physical stores. Thus, Suiteshare came in with a WhatsApp button on the ecommerce front-end where the customer can choose its communication channel and obtain tailor-made support either from stores or from the ecommerce customer service team. Additionally, brick-and-mortar franchises started to use customized links to redirect customers to their own WhatsApp correspondent.
Between November 2020 and March 2021, in just three months, 60,000 new chat conversations were started, 13,000 leads were generated and Tramontina saw its ecommerce conversion rate increase by 20%.
“We are very happy with the results. The WhatsApp button on our ecommerce store is being a success, not to mention the lead capture which, in just under one month, has already reached 3,000. We are working to expand this channel for social media, as well.”
Marieli Oliari, Ecommerce Coordinator at Tramontina
Another example of a brand engaging with conversational commerce is Usaflex. Usaflex is a producer of comfort and fashion shoes, having been on the Brazilian market for more than 20 years. Since 2019, its digital store has run on the VTEX Commerce Platform.
The brand aimed to improve customers’ communication with its brick-and-mortar stores. Using Suiteshare, Usaflex set up marketing campaigns with videos and QR codes that would redirect the customer to the WhatsApp channel of the nearest store. The data collected through the interaction also helped Usaflex to retarget customers with Google, Instagram and Facebook ads.
In just five days, 40,000 new chats were initiated through Usaflex’s WhatsApp and 5,000 leads were generated, validating the Suiteshare solution for the long-term.
“We sought to partner with Suiteshare to bring traffic to WhatsApp from our physical stores and, from there, to start a relationship with our customers. Until now, we did a test using QR codes and we had great results. The tool pleasantly surprised us.”
Jessica Petry, Marketing Analyst at Usaflex
Lupo is a Brazilian manufacturer of underwear, socks and nightwear that has counted on VTEX for its ecommerce operation since 2017. But in 2020, when most fashion stores had to close down due to COVID-19, Lupo had the enormous challenge to support its brick-and-mortar stores. The solution? Directing digital customers to the WhatsApp channel of the closest physical store, allowing them to place an order online and then get the goods through pick-up in-store or home delivery.
As a result, Lupo received 347,000 WhatsApp communications, out of which a phenomenal 89% were converted. Turns out that, as expected, conversational commerce does work!
“Suiteshare brought positive results for the entire Lupo Group, both website and stores. We managed to direct many customers to the stores, especially during periods when the stores were closed due to the lockdown.”
Mateus Pugliezi, Ecommerce Coordinator at Lupo
By acquiring Suiteshare, VTEX is taking the next step towards enabling more and more retailers around the world to deliver modern, convenient and interactive shopping experiences for their shoppers.
To sustain that vision, Suiteshare is looking towards developing more features attuned to merchants’ needs, being available in more languages and even approaching new conversational channels.
“We are very excited to join the VTEX team to co-create market-leading solutions for the future of digital commerce.”
Maicon Ferreira, Founder and CEO of Suiteshare
Request a Suiteshare demo here.
The CCX Company, in collaboration with VTEX Commerce Cloud, expresses gratitude for having had the opportunity to enhance its understanding of the advantages, trends, and other elements addressed in the current topic. This article was jointly developed and is brought to you by the VTEX Commerce Cloud team.
