Brazilian retail is one of the sectors undergoing intense digital transformation. With every click, new consumer profiles expect fast, intuitive, and secure journeys that truly align with today's reality. This context has shifted retailers' financial systems from operational support to a strategic tool for competitiveness—or at least that is how it should be.
Many companies in the segment have yet to enhance their platforms in a way that the transactions conducted on them elevate the shopping experience. The so-called downtime, which is when these technologies are not operating due to instabilities, is an obstacle that has become unviable for this market.
Every minute of system downtime can mean millions in losses for retailers. The “Quality Transformation Report 2025,” released by Tricentis, provides a sample of this by revealing that 50% of Brazilian companies have annual costs ranging from US$1 million to US$5 million due to software failures and maintenance needs. The research also points out, unsurprisingly, that retail is one of the sectors most impacted by these losses.
Furthermore, unconcluded sales and frustrated customers are responsible for tarnishing organizations' reputations. In other words, the trust and the very effort to build customer loyalty—which can take months or even years in such a competitive market—can crumble in just a few moments of technological inactivity.
I reiterate, this downtime, in most cases, could be avoided. Technological resilience urgently needs to cease being merely a technical resource and solidify as a strategic pillar of business.
Digitize efficiently, grow with qualityWhen we talk about efficient digitalization, it is not enough to merely offer digital payment methods or integrate checkout platforms: it is essential to ensure that technological solutions operate with stability and high performance under any circumstances. Without this, the consumer immediately perceives the operation's fragility and abandons the cart before the retailer even notices.
Availability, operational continuity, and transaction trust are basic requirements to sustain growth and customer retention in retail. More than just keeping systems running, the digital infrastructure must be robust enough to support demand peaks, respond quickly to incidents, and protect operations from unexpected failures.
This means, for example, adopting practices such as modular architecture, the use of robust APIs and cloud systems, as well as processes that facilitate continuous updates without operational impacts. Or even ensuring real-time monitoring, which allows detecting instabilities before they affect the consumer, and disaster recovery strategies capable of ensuring continuity even in the face of critical failures.
The very incorporation of AI (Artificial Intelligence) is no longer a bonus but a necessity. To give an idea, the Tricentis report indicates that 94% of companies want to increase the use of this technology for software testing in Latin America, while 100% plan to use it for failure detection and process acceleration in Brazil.
Finally, it is still worth emphasizing that it is essential to focus efforts on ensuring system integration across areas such as compliance, engineering, and product. This way, the retailer can grow without creating internal bottlenecks or systemic risks that compromise its image.
In summary, ensuring robustness and resilience should not be seen as a cost, but as a competitive differentiator. Investing in financial innovation is investing in scalability, sustainability, and the future of retail itself. In the end, the choice is simple: either the sector updates today, or it will become vulnerable and fall behind tomorrow.
*An engineer graduated from the Mauá Institute of Technology with over 8 years of experience in the segment, Felipe moved into the innovation and finance sector upon assuming the innovation management role at B2W Digital, where for nearly 5 years he was responsible for investment planning, feasibility studies, and cost reduction analysis.
