Thiago Monteiro began his entrepreneurial journey there in 2011 when he opened a cosmetics distribution company on the São Paulo coast. In the beginning, everything was simpler: he worked with some exclusive brands and supplied beauty and personal care products. But it was during the pandemic that his life took a different turn. Like many, he had to reinvent himself and ended up diving wholeheartedly into the digital world.
With commerce stopping and customers hesitating to pay, Thiago decided to bet on e-commerce. He transformed a little messy room into a mini operations center, set his stock to run, and within three months, was selling enough to cover all the household expenses. That's when he realized that online had more potential than he could imagine.
Even being a "traditional" businessman, more connected to offline, Thiago started sharing his experiences online. This led him to seek a tool that would make managing his e-commerce easier, which at the time was already selling everything: household items, toys, and children's shoes.
Initially, the entire process was carried out manually. He and his wife, Nathália, were dedicated to registering their products individually on various marketplaces, such as Mercado Livre and Shopee. They faced several other difficulties: inventory control was complex, systems did not integrate, and even the labels for shipping products by mail had to be made one by one.
In 2022, Thiago took a leap in his entrepreneurial journey by investing in technology. While searching for systems to help with these difficulties, he found Magis5, an automation and integration platform with major marketplaces such as Mercado Livre and Shopee.
I was able to list all my products at once on all the marketplaces integrated with the platform. I gained a lot of agility and visibility, which led to a sales boom. Not to mention that all procedures related to orders are processed automatically and centrally, from tracking the order status to delivery, including sales control, billing, and issuing invoices and documents. "And that's how we went from a makeshift room to a high-performance e-commerce," he highlights.
According to the merchant, the platform automates several manual tasks, such as creating ads and kits, inventory control, shipping, financial management, as well as providing detailed dashboards and providing greater efficiency and profitability for the business.
“I remember how complicated inventory control was, since the systems didn’t communicate with each other. Today, thanks to technology, everything is automated. Now I can manage my inventory easily and price different products in bulk much more quickly. All of this is intuitive and even those who are just starting out in e-commerce can use it without difficulty,” he says.
In this way, the time spent managing the marketplaces was halved, allowing for more results with less effort. "We even reduced shipping errors, which were common without automated control. This also contributed to lowering logistics costs," he explains. And if previously three people were needed to handle the shipping and sorting of products, today he manages everything with just one employee.
Between 2022 and 2024, the transformation was even more significant. The result? A revenue of R$ 400,000 per month, with a much leaner and more efficient operation.
However, Thiago doesn't want to stop here. They already have plans to launch their own brand, Tadebrinks, focused on children's products such as tights, bows, and rompers.
“Is it possible to run my business without technology that integrates and automates management? It is possible, but this would require greater investment and much more effort to manage processes that are currently fully automated. With this solution, I save time, reduce costs and minimize errors — benefits that would be much more difficult to achieve otherwise,” he explains.
Even with the Brazilian e-commerce having a very targeted profile, one thing is clear: being present on marketplaces can be decisive for the business. A survey by BigDataCorp on the "Profile of Brazilian E-Commerce" showed that almost half of the online stores in the country (45.79%) are managed by just one person. Furthermore, 40.47% have a maximum of ten employees, usually between one and two.
In 2024, there are already over 1.9 million online stores in Brazil, a growth of 17.14% compared to the previous year. Of these, 68.44% sell one to ten products. These numbers show how the sector is growing, but also reinforce the need to invest in technologies that help automate processes and give small businesses more strength to stand out in such a competitive market.
