How digital newcomer LabelVie Group achieved a 71 NPS after launching eCommerce in only 5 months

Aligned with the LabelVie Group’s “Vision 2028” development plan, Atacadão, its B2B brand, is driving an ambitious expansion strategy through two key channels. 

First, the company is establishing physical stores across Morocco based on the cash-and-carry model (e.g., a store where customers can pay cash for goods at low prices and take them away instead of having them delivered). Second, it has launched an eCommerce platform accessible via a mobile app, specifically designed to meet the needs of small and medium-sized traditional retailers and supported by a dedicated logistics and distribution network.

Atacadão, which means “big wholesale” in Portuguese due to the company’s Brazilian roots, previously sold products only through its physical stores — a strategy that remains successful. However, the growing potential of eCommerce became a priority for LabelVie Group, especially after discovering that offline purchases accounted for only 5% of their target customers’ needs. In other words, customers buy 95% of FMCG goods elsewhere, highlighting a significant opportunity for Atacadão to increase its market share by establishing a robust online presence.

The untapped potential of serving 120,000 traditional retailers — Atacadão currently caters to just 30,000 — further motivated the company to expand its brick-and-mortar presence and invest heavily in online channels. 

To establish an eCommerce presence and achieve these goals, the distributor needed a flexible commerce platform capable of meeting current requirements while remaining adaptable to future needs.

Building an eCommerce presence for Atacadão began with designing the customer journey and understanding the behavior of its primary buyers: Traditional retailers selling FMCG products in street shops across major cities like Casablanca and Tangier. These retailers typically place orders in the amount of $5,000 — $7,000 USD per month, purchasing medium quantities of items once or twice a week to resell to consumers. Their buying patterns are dynamic, adapting in real-time to shifting customer demands, often purchasing different products from week to week.

Composable commerce, as it turned out, provided exactly what Atacadão needed to navigate the challenges of unpredictable demands and bold growth goals, all while creating an eCommerce presence for the first time. Atacadão began its commercetools journey with a 60-day free trial, a step that proved commercetools Composable Commerce for B2B was the perfect fit for its needs.

One of the key challenges addressed by commercetools from the get-go was ensuring real-time product availability and seamless inventory management. With commercetools’ flexibility, Atacadão could synchronize online stock availability with its internal systems through APIs in near real-time, ensuring the app displayed only in-stock items. This setup allows Atacadão to refresh its product assortment throughout the day based on current inventory.

What’s more, Atacadão leveraged product data modeling, including Product Tailoring and Product Projections, to curate a focused product catalog of 1,600 SKUs from its 9,000-product offline assortment. The platform also enabled Atacadão to offer instant discounts during daily promotional timeframes, as well as conditional discounts for customers meeting minimum order quantities.

To achieve these goals, Atacadão launched an MVP (minimum viable product) in just five months, including a three-month testing phase with a friends-and-family approach to refine the platform and user experience. For the rollout, the company focused on two cities with distinct consumer behaviors. Casablanca, where business starts early in the morning, contrasts with Tangier, which follows a more “Spanish” schedule, starting at 10 a.m. and ending late in the evening. This tailored approach allowed Atacadão to align ordering and delivery processes with each city’s unique rhythms.

Throughout this process, Atacadão relied on commercetools’ expertise and support to expand to new cities, seamlessly scale its product SKUs and handle growing order volumes — a testament to the advantages of selecting the leading commerce platform.

Traditional retailers are increasingly adopting online purchasing and enjoying the convenience of sourcing products without having to close their shops during the day to buy products from physical stores. For Atacadão, this positive shift in customer experience has led to a steady rise in online sales, reaching an average of $60,000 EUR per day within just a few weeks of operations. On promotional days, Atacadão can double revenues while maintaining stable online performance. The distributor is also leveraging the power of discounts, which have boosted app traffic by 20% and increased basket values by 10–20% during active promotions.

Beyond transactions, Atacadão has achieved remarkable customer satisfaction metrics. The company boasts a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 71, a strong indicator of customer loyalty and willingness to recommend the brand. Additionally, its mobile app for traditional retailers has earned an impressive 4.3 out of 5 stars, reflecting widespread customer approval.

Operational efficiency is also key to delivering exceptional customer experiences. To support this, Atacadão uses commercetools Audit Log, gaining full visibility into commerce operations and tracking changes. This tool allows the company to pinpoint issues and resolve customer complaints swiftly, maintaining high service standards.

Another factor behind Atacadão’s online success is a hybrid sales approach. While in-person sales remain vital in establishing relationships with customers, the company made a game-changing move by ensuring that sales representatives earn a commission even when their buyers are purchasing online. With this model, sales representatives can focus on a more strategic role rather than just taking orders, helping the company better understand new customer behaviors and demands.

Looking ahead, Atacadão continues to expand into new cities following LabelVie Group’s “Vision 2028” while heavily investing in eCommerce capabilities to grow customer share-of-wallet and retention through its mobile app. The company also aims to balance revenue generation between physical and digital channels over time. 

Haitam el Khassal, CMO at LabelVie Group, commented, “I know it’s a very ambitious target, but I believe it’s possible because we’re currently not reaching all the customers we have the potential to serve.” While the mobile app currently caters to traditional shopkeepers, the company plans to extend its reach to cafés, hotels and restaurants, as well as expand into additional regions across Morocco.