With 20,000 daily attendees and 250 exhibitors, VTEX DAY 2023 showcased extraordinary “ordinary people” achievements and success stories in digital commerce

São Paulo, 15th June 2023 – VTEX DAY, one of the greatest digital commerce events in the world, returned with full in-person capacity this year and gathered more than 20,000 people per day on June 5 and 6 in São Paulo (Brazil). The participants had the chance to attend more than 100 lectures and debates about retail success cases and technological trends, summing up to 60 hours of presentations and demonstrations of digital transformation examples. The public also had the opportunity to learn about the products and services of around 250 exhibitors, 195 of which were sponsors — 25% more than the 2022 edition. The event’s magnitude definitely put VTEX DAY in the global calendar of the world’s most relevant digital commerce conventions.

“This year’s numbers testify to the growth of VTEX DAY and how it is on the right path to become the most relevant digital commerce event in the world,” said Mariano Gomide de Faria, founder and co-CEO of VTEX. “People from ten countries came to Brazil to participate in VTEX DAY, which demonstrates the event’s relevance for the retail industry, our ecosystem, and the business tourism sector,” he added.

On the first day, Faria interviewed supermodel, businesswoman, and activist Gisele Bündchen on the event’s main stage. The übermodel shared her life story and the challenges she has overcome since she left a small town in the countryside of Brazil to become a world-class runway icon. Bündchen got emotional when she talked about her family’s support and importance throughout her professional journey. “Gisele, as well as Ayrton Senna, Pelé, and VTEX, show that Latin-Americans can be great international role models. After all, ordinary people who have focus and determination can accomplish extraordinary things and thus inspire many others,” said the founder and co-CEO of VTEX.

Jessica Watson, the youngest female sailor to circumnavigate the world solo and the inspiration of the movie True Spirit; Karol Meyer, Brazilian diver and eight-time apnea world record holder; and conductor João Carlos Martins also inspired the audience with their stories of determination.

Success cases

How global enterprises have been evolving their digital commerce architecture, the implementation of an innovation culture, and the adoption of sustainable practices in retail were some of the topics discussed during the second day of VTEX DAY. Executives from major global brands shared how their organisations have been using VTEX’s composable, end-to-end platform to transform their businesses and boost profitability.

Innovation based on microservices and pragmatic composability is already a reality for enterprises such as Carrefour and Motorola. On the second day of the event, Lou Canjar, global IT director at Motorola, and Olivier Gibert, Global Chief Technology Officer at Carrefour, shared with the VTEX DAY audience their companies’ trajectories in adopting this approach.

According to Canjar, Motorola’s challenge was having websites that could demonstrate the brand’s history and product qualities to consumers. The microservices architecture has allowed the company to develop websites in 20 countries. “We have done a great job optimising the customer journey and achieved record results in the US,” he said. “Our partnership with VTEX is crucial. Our success is their success. Besides the technology that enables consumers to shop anywhere, VTEX’s differential is offering a one-of-a-kind partnership”, he added.

The pragmatic approach to composability has also helped Carrefour accelerate its digital commerce transformation journey. Gibert explained how the global consumer goods retailer has been achieving market agility and strategic alignment between business and IT. The retailer replaced its disintegrated business and digital commerce systems with global microservice-based platforms using the VTEX platform as the foundation for its transformation strategy. “We had the challenge of transforming Carrefour into a digital company that uses technology and data to improve performance and prepare for the future,” he said. According to Gibert, Carrefour adopted a composable architecture not only for technological reasons, but also to be able to provide a better customer service. “We needed a reliable, stable platform that would allow us to accelerate time to market and ensure better customer experience,” he stated.

Environmental and social responsibility

This year, VTEX DAY was awarded Eccaplan’s sustainability label, which means that all carbon emitted because of the event was priced and counterbalanced with investments in initiatives that offset the effects of climate change in Brazil. During the two days of VTEX DAY, special programming was offered to teenagers from four partner NGOs and social projects focused on technology and social transformation and a few students from the Digit.all program, which provides free training scholarships to accelerate the careers of underrepresented groups (women, black people, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQIAP+ community) in the digital commerce market. The participants enjoyed guided visits, conversations with professionals from the tech industry, and meetings mediated by VTEX with sponsors and supporters from great enterprises.

Additionally, two groups of socially vulnerable teenagers in search of professional training in IT and event production also participated in the event. One of them, from the Jatobás Institute—an NGO for personal and technical training and awareness — attended a class taught by the VTEX DAY organization team. The second group was put together by VTEX in partnership with Fundação Casa, which shelters teens and young adults who were given corrective measures. The people assisted by the foundation took part in an information technology education program and were able to participate in some special activities. They were impressed by the size and diversity of the event.

Event expansion

In 2023, VTEX DAY hosted a fashion show of the brands Aramis, Bagaggio, Constance, and Fila. The stores introduced new collections and offered special conditions for immediate purchase through VTEX’s Live Shopping App, so the event participants could buy the products while still watching the show.

VTEX DAY also featured a “Business Area” sponsored by LinkedIn where company representatives could meet for private meetings and even a studio for podcast recording. The traditional Hackathon challenge also took place during the event. This year, the participants had to develop split payment solutions on the VTEX platform — from the registration of an affiliate to the end of the flow. Among the ten participating teams, Avanti’s team came first; Codeby, a Keyrus Company’s team came second; and B8one’s team came third. The three teams were awarded gadgets from Amazon, as Hackathon is sponsored by AWS.

Finally, the “Retail Area” showcased concept stores of Amigos do Bem (NGO), Bagaggio, Iron, Motorola, Pague Menos, Philip London, Polishop, and Universal. The booths were specially built to demonstrate the latest products in sales operations and explore omnichannel and unified commerce with exclusive discounts for the event attendees.

The next edition of VTEX DAY is scheduled for April 2024. More information will soon be available at www.vtexday.com.br.

VTEX Experience

The VTEX Experience delegation of 142 C-level executives from great global enterprises also took part in VTEX DAY 2023. They participated in immersive activities that brought together retail experts to exchange experiences on digital transformation and talk about practical examples of success. The group, comprised of VTEX’s clients, prospects, and partners from all over the world, visited the operations of Cobasi, Grupo DPSP: Drogaria São Paulo e Pacheco, Decathlon, Kopenhagen, Zee.Dog, and Samsung, and watched a Live Shopping session with Philips.

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About VTEX Day

VTEX DAY is one of the biggest digital commerce events in the world. The event has been taking place since 2009 and is extremely important for the entire digital commerce ecosystem, as it brings together clients, suppliers, and influencers — the most important names in retail — to present their solutions and updates, exchange knowledgeable lessons, debate trends, strengthen networking, and gain insights to improve business. In 2023, VTEX DAY took place on June 5 and 6, with AWS as the main sponsor in the Pink Diamond category and Adyen, Magalu, and PayPal as Ruby sponsors. Check out the list of all the event sponsors on our website.

About VTEX

VTEX (NYSE: VTEX) is the enterprise digital commerce platform where forward-thinking CEOs and CIOs smarten up their investments. Our composable and complete platform helps brands and retailers modernise their stack and reduce maintenance costs by rapidly migrating from legacy systems, connecting their entire value chain, and making inventory and fulfilment their strength.  

As a leader in digital commerce, VTEX is trusted by more than 2,600 B2C and B2B customers, including Carrefour, Colgate, Motorola, Sony, Stanley Black & Decker, and Whirlpool, having over 3,400 active online stores across 38 countries (as of FY ended on December 31, 2022). For more information, visit www.vtex.com.