The boundaries between online and offline for trade are becoming less and less evident. During their shopping journey, consumers travel indiscriminately between offers made by online retailers, traditional retailers, pure players and hybrid and fluid models. The expansion of electronic commerce in less traditional ways, such as: social selling and mobile commerce, are increasingly viable alternatives. This process was accelerated given the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, purchasing habits were fundamentally and permanently changed. Innovations that were planned for five or seven years were made in months, presenting a new challenge for retail managers.

Even more notable is the evolution of the purchase process stages, with consumers replacing linear and transactional journeys with parallel, cyclical and relational journeys.

On the other hand, new technological platforms are increasingly accessible to retailers of varying sizes and formats. Many of them are offered in the cloud and scalable (SaaS), facilitating their adoption, modifying and horizontalizing the competitive scenario. The ability to read this constantly changing scenario requiring agile adaptation is fundamental for retailers, more than ever.

The ubiquity of retail with the use of new emerging technologies and its impact on the consumer journey is the theme of the 14th Latin American Retail and Consumption Conference .