The adoption of new technologies in the retail sector has proven increasingly essential to generate value, operational efficiency, and market competitiveness for businesses, such as 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 Brazil, in the panel ‘New Technologies in Value Generation’ at APAS Show 2025, exploring how artificial intelligence and omnichannel strategies are reshaping relationships and sales methods in B2B through WhatsApp. As a result, technological innovations have enhanced sales performance as a strategic ally, boosting results with a 34% increase in average purchase value in direct physical distributor spaces, alongside growth in digital channel sales.
The advancement of AI agents to automate and personalize the purchasing journey, especially on platforms where small and medium retailers already operate, reveals the strategy adopted by Mondelēz Brazil to leverage productivity through a resource so strong and familiar to the Brazilian population. ‘Sales on WhatsApp won’t replace physical salespeople. The trend is growth—but also transforming distributor salespeople from order-takers into sales leaders, boosting their average ticket, focusing on execution, categories, stockouts, building relationships, and analyzing low-selling products for efficient business management. Technology adds to and strengthens retail sales, implementing omnichannel strategies for greater reach and AI agents for optimization and personalization of the experience,’ explains Livia.
This performance is even more significant with Yalo’s recent launch: Oris. Introduced as the first intelligent sales agent, this technology brings a new kind of ‘digital employee’ designed to replicate top human salespeople, operating at scale and data-driven. The agent can understand voice messages, make strategic recommendations, act proactively, and sell in a contextualized, personalized, and scalable manner across any channel, including voice calls and WhatsApp. During the panel, the companies revealed that digitizing traditional channels has impacted the market swiftly and efficiently—from major industry brands to small neighborhood retailers that haven’t yet adopted other digital tools due to investment concerns, uncertainty, or lack of knowledge. Additionally, AI integration in platforms enables more direct and tailored communication aligned with different consumer profiles, reducing friction in the journey.
‘Through our partnership with Mondelēz Brazil, we boosted the company’s B2B sales by over 15% via WhatsApp. I often hear that retailers seek to digitize their customers, but the truth is they’re already highly digitized—the challenge is finding them on the right channels where they’re present and active. With new technologies, we don’t reduce the workforce; we enhance and strengthen it. Where to start? The first step is to experience, test, adapt, explore—and then implement consistently and coherently with your business, strategically achieving your action plan goals,’ explains Andrés.
The launch of Oris reinforces the vision that technology acts as an ally, not a replacement, for salespeople. The digital employee can triple conversion rates compared to traditional e-commerce and increase average ticket value by up to 40%, optimizing the end customer’s purchasing journey and enabling human salespeople to focus on more elaborate, creative, and strategic activities.
‘Innovations are here to support us, just like the integration of sales channels. Of course, there are obstacles, but facing them is how we evolve, refine processes, increase sales, unite teams, customers, partners—and ultimately bring the business closer to full success. Transformation requires action, not just openness to the new, but experiencing firsthand the significant advantages of new technologies—it can truly transform operations,’ concludes Andrés Stella.
