According to him, with the evolution of the online market, physical retailers need to find new solutions to stay alive. "The salesperson needs to provide the customer with experience and mobility in order to achieve greater sales success. And to make this job easier, salespeople should have much more information about their respective customers," he added.

After Kony's presentation, Graça Sermound, Editorial Director of Decision Report and Risk Report magazines, mediated a debate that brought together Marcos Paulo, CIO of Dellavia Pneus; Rosana Pereira, Corporate IT Manager of Iguatemi Empresa de Shopping Centers; Luiza Severo, E-commerce Manager of Gimba; Eduardo Terra, Vice President of Ibevar; and Ubirajara Santos, CIO of Adição Distribuição Express. The journalist began the discussion by asking the participants about the challenges and prospects for Brazilian retail.

"The speed with which technology is reaching retail today is very high, so it's difficult to talk about companies that are ready for this big change, but I would say that the whole segment should already be preparing," replied Eduardo Terra, from Ibevar. He and the others agreed that, despite all the existing technology, there is still great concern about physical retail. But for Luiza Severo, E-commerce manager at Gimba, the physical market is not at risk of dying out. "Each person has their own characteristics. While some prefer to buy online, others choose to go and see the products in person," said Severo.

For the participants, mobile-commerce technology has come to help both the online and physical markets, since with this type of platform companies can put their customers at ease. "We're doing a study to bring both businesses together, so that customers will find it easier to make their purchases. We'd like the two to go hand in hand," said Ubirajara Santos, CIO of Adição Distribuição Express.

Rosana Pereira, IT manager at Iguatemi, believes that the success of physical stores will depend a lot on employee training. "Training salespeople and preparing them to serve a specific customer is the best way to improve sales, as customers will feel much freer, knowing that the salesperson can help them perfectly," she said. And Marcos Paulo, CIO at Dellavia, added: "Customers often arrive at the store already knowing what they want to see and buy, so employees need to be prepared for this reception."

During the event, the speakers also commented on the high investments that Brazilian retailers will have to make in order to enter the mobile age once and for all.