The adoption of new technologies in the retail sector has proven increasingly essential to generate value, operational efficiency and market competitiveness in business, such as, for example, for consumer goods companies. The topic was discussed by Andrés Stella, COO of Yalo and Livia Seabra, Director of E-commerce and Emerging Channels at Mondelēz Brasil, in the “New Technologies in Value Generation” panel at APAS Show 2025, exploring how artificial intelligence and omnichannel are reshaping the relationship and the way of selling in B2B through WhatsApp. As a result, technological innovations have enhanced the seller's performance as an allied force in results with a 34% increase in the average purchase ticket in the physical space directly with the distributor, in addition to the growth in sales made through digital channels.
The advancement of the use of AI agents to automate and personalize the shopping journey, especially on platforms where small and medium retailers are already present, reveals the strategy adopted by Mondelēz Brasil, with the objective of leveraging productivity through such a strong and common resource for the Brazilian population. "Selling on WhatsApp will not replace physical sellers. The trend is to grow, but also to make the distributor's salesperson go from order taker to sales leader, boosting their average ticket, looking at execution, categories, disruption, building relationships and analysis of the least sold products for efficient business management. The technology comes to add and strengthen retail sales, implementing omnichannel for greater capture and AI agents to optimize and personalize the experience", reveals Livia.
This performance is even more expressive with Yalo's recent launch: the Oris. Touted as the first intelligent sales agent, the technology brings a new type of “digital employee” designed to replicate the best human salespeople, operating at scale and based on data. The agent is able to understand voice messages, make strategic recommendations, act proactively and sell in a contextualized, personalized and scalable way on any channel, including voice calls and WhatsApp. Throughout the panel, companies revealed that the digitalization of traditional channels has impacted the market in an agile and efficient way, from large brands in the industry to small neighborhood retailers, which have not yet implemented other digital tools in their processes for reasons such as investment, uncertainty and lack of knowledge. Furthermore, the artificial intelligence integrated into the platforms enables more direct communication aligned with different consumer profiles, avoiding friction during the journey.
"With our partnership at Mondelēz Brasil, we boosted the company's B2B sales by more than 15% via WhatsApp. I hear a lot that retailers are looking to digitize customers, but the truth is that they are already super digitized and the challenge is to find them in the right channels where they are present and active. With the arrival of new technologies, we do not reduce the workforce, we increase and strengthen it. Where to start? The first step is to live the experience, test, adapt, explore — and then implement consistently and consistent with your business, achieving your goals strategically drawn up in the action plan”, explains Andrés.
The launch of Oris reinforces the view that technology acts as an ally, not a substitute, for sellers. The digital employee has the capacity to triple conversion rates compared to traditional e-commerces and increase the average ticket by up to 40%, optimizing the end customer's purchasing journey and enabling human sellers to carry out more elaborate, creative and strategic activities.
"Innovations have arrived to support us, as well as the integration of sales channels. Of course there are obstacles, but it is by facing them that we are able to evolve, improve processes, increase sales, unite workforces, people from teams, customers, partners and then, bring the business closer to success in its fullness. Transformation requires attitude, not just openness to the new, but experiencing in practice the significant advantages of new technologies, can in fact transform an operation", concludes Andrés Stella.
