Juntos Somos Mais, a joint venture between Votorantim Cimentos, Gerdau () and Tigre, consolidated WhatsApp as one of its main transaction channels, with R$250 million in GMV (gross volume of goods sold) in one year. Created as a platform to connect industries and retailers in the construction materials sector, it reached R$30 million in sales on average over the last 12 months.
“WhatsApp works as an ally. The customer can choose where it makes the most sense to buy, depending on the moment and type of order”, says Fernando Dutra, executive director of Juntos Somos Mais. “In larger purchases, with many items, the conversational channel helps to speed up searching, checking and closing the order.”
With sales exceeding R$1 million in sales per business day, sales results through the channel reflect a broader strategy of expanding the channels used for sales to construction retailers to serve diverse supplier and customer profiles.
Large manufacturers, for example, use WhatsApp more for bulky orders, when browsing items on a website or app may be less efficient. On the buyers’ side, the tool is concentrated on small retailers — the Southeast region is mainly responsible for demand.
“There is a perception that WhatsApp is an informal channel, but our operation does not work that way,” says Dutra. “We use official tools, validated by Meta, with recording and storage of conversations on our suppliers’ own platforms. This guarantees scale, control and security for both the retailer and the industry.”
Orders made directly through the application are responded to in a few seconds and the sales process, recording conversations and controlling transactions follow corporate standards. “The objective is not to direct the customer to a single path, but to allow them to purchase in the most efficient way for their daily lives”, says the executive.
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With the R$30 million monthly mark surpassed, the company starts to treat the channel as a structuring part of the business, integrated with the marketplace and other aspects of the platform, in a movement that reflects the progressive digitalization of commercial relationships in Brazilian B2B.
