M. Dias Branco has trained around 2,500 salespeople and sales promoters since July 2021, transmitting the concept of “Loja Perfeita” (Perfect Store) in an immersive and innovative way, and establishing a new product execution standard at the point of sale. In an immersive and collective virtual environment, where people carry out activities guided by a customized 3D avatar, the company’s store, created in Metaverse, is the first dedicated to retail-directed training.
Mauro Alarcon, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at M. Dias Branco, tells that he joined the company in July 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and one of the challenges presented was to support the development of the Trade Marketing area at the Sales Academy created by the company. “The first pillar of the company’s evolution in the trade was based on a sell out culture, with proper team training. The Loja Perfeita project is a democratic and accessible project initiative that properly trains salespeople and sales promoters, in a didactic, attractive and expedited manner, and easily accessed via a smartphone with no need for 3D glasses”, highlights the executive.
Today, there are four training modules available, with more than 12,500 hours of training for the commercial team. Module 1 introduces basic performance and indicators; module 2 is focused on channels and understanding the shopper; Module 3 presents the Metaverse tool of Loja Perfeita and Module 4 focuses on benchmarking and business. “We were able to measure exactly what is the level of knowledge of each participant and evolve towards personalized content”, explains the executive.
Pioneering the use of Metaverse in the training of sales professionals, M. Dias Branco had the support of 4Dmais, a company specialized in immersive technologies, to create the virtual environment. “The entire environment is interconnected with the company’s reality, whether for the purchase of products or training of sales promoters responsible for displaying M. Dias Branco products on the shelves”, explains Kedma Tolentino, CEO of 4Dmais. “Today we see a market movement in search for similar initiatives”, she adds.
Felipe Rama, Head of Trade Marketing at M. Dias Branco, points out that retailers were also being benefited. “In the retail, strategy is based on consumer behavior, the so-called “shopper”. With strategic and improved execution, sales become more qualified as well”, explains the executive. He points out that, in addition to professional qualification, the training offered by M. Dias Branco enables identification of difficulties in understanding and professional challenges, by channel, state or even region of the country.
The next step will be to include a health category in the system, due to the latest purchases made by the company (Latinex and Jasmine), and a possible distribution and expansion of the Loja Perfeita concept for training of minor retailers and the indirect sales team, led by distributors.
