Family businesses and SMEs are gaining strength in e-commerce | Dino

This progress encourages the creation of new businesses and expands the diversity of profiles that start selling online. For Bruno Brito, CEO of Empreender, a company that has been developing applications and digital solutions for virtual stores for more than 15 years, the dominant profile of salespeople explains why routine becomes so difficult.

To provide context, the executive cites data from BigDataCorp: “Brazil has 1.9 million virtual stores, with 17% growth in one year. 73.5% of them are family businesses and 86% have fewer than 10 employees.”

“This clearly shows that most entrepreneurs work with limited time, a small team and many roles at the same time. They need simple, direct and organized ways to carry out their daily lives,” Brito adds.

Starting a digital entrepreneurship is marked by obstacles

Despite the excitement, the first stage of the digital journey is challenging. A survey by Loja Integrada (LI), conducted between January and April 2025, shows that 61% of entrepreneurs start without knowing what they will sell, and 33% of them expect an immediate return.

Of the 7,800 e-commerce businesses created in April 2025 alone, only 123 recorded at least one sale. Also according to the platform, 2.7 million virtual stores have already been created on LI, but only 24 thousand remain active. The main difficulties reported by shop owners were:

• Product promotion (40.2%)
• Store structure (32.5%)
• Pricing (16%)
• Technical training (7.3%)

SMEs are reaching more regions and expanding their online presence

In addition to internal challenges, the geographical expansion of sales brings new requirements for small merchants. According to Mapa da Logística, a survey conducted by Loggi based on 16 million parcels sent in the second quarter of 2025, 60% of shipments made by small businesses already depart from outside the state of São Paulo, indicating a more distributed and competitive market.

The average ticket price for SMEs was R$217, a value 21% higher than that recorded among major brands and 51% higher than the market value.

The study also recorded growth in categories such as optics (302%), pharmacies (204%), sporting goods (196%), and toys (126%), in addition to significant increases in seasonal dates.

Expansion into new regions, along with increased demand volume and category diversity, requires greater organizational capacity, monitoring and effectiveness.

Brito highlights: “Today, the biggest challenge small businesses face is not selling. It’s the ability to clearly monitor orders, customers, content, and edits. When tools don’t talk to each other, everything becomes more difficult. Entrepreneurs need integration, not more complexity.”

Integrated solutions are gaining space in supporting virtual retailers’ routines

In this context, Britto offers Empreender Plus as an ecosystem designed for businesses of all sizes – especially those with simple routines.

“Empreender Plus brings together more than 20 integrated solutions that help structure, organize and develop a digital business. Store personalization, customer communication, sales, content and indicators now work in the same environment,” he explains.

He emphasizes that the suite of applications is accessible and flexible: “We have plans for different business portfolios, including free plans and free trials. The goal is to allow any entrepreneur to access tools that make sense in practice,” he says. Among the applications available within Empreender Plus, Bruno Brito mentions some of the tools used by thousands of retailers:

• SAC: AutomationWhatsApp ION, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Invoicing, Pix, Human Service, AI Agent.
• becauseHe saysng page: Allows you to create professional pages using a drag-and-drop form, without the need for programming.
• nighty Comments: Adds reviews, questions, answers, and testimonials, which increases trust and conversion.
• headReio.net: Order tracking and custom tracking page with the ability to increase sales.
• DrewBye: one dThe largest dropshipping platforms in Latin America, it is useful for both those who sell without inventory and those who offer products this way.

According to Brito, Empreender’s apps are compatible with the most widely used e-commerce platforms in the country. “The solutions work with Loja Integrada, Shopify, Nuvemshop, Yampi, WooCommerce, Wix, Cartpanda, Tray and much more. This removes barriers. The store owner doesn’t need to migrate anything. It just adds what was missing to make everyday life flow.”

The next challenge for Brazilian e-commerce

With the increase in the number of sellers, growth in average ticket and expansion of sales to different regions, the sector is entering a new phase – where the focus stops starting and becomes continuous.

“In the coming years, Brazilian e-commerce will be defined less by the entry of new sellers and more by the ability of each company to organize itself, understand its data and keep evolving. Survival in the market requires structure, clear processes and appropriate support. Empreender Plus exists precisely for this purpose,” Brito concludes.