AB InBev leading the way with omnichannel DTC ecosystem of fast-growing ecommerce platforms and nearly 13,000 brick-and-mortar retail stores

If any company can bring delight to millions of retailers and consumers all over the world, that company would be Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), the world’s largest brewer. Working hand-in-hand since 2016 with VTEX, a leading enterprise digital commerce platform that runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS), AB InBev has launched state-of-the-art ecommerce technologies for dozens of direct-to-consumer (DTC), business-to-business (B2B), and marketplace initiatives throughout Latin America. Today, AB InBev is leading the way with its omnichannel direct-to-consumer ecosystem of fast-growing ecommerce platforms generating over 17 million orders in the first quarter and nearly 13,000 brick-and-mortar retail stores.

DTC initiatives satisfy retailers, bars, and consumers

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and beer drinkers lost their in-person experiences, AB InBev was at the ready. The company quickly geared up to serve all its customers, including bars, restaurants, convenience stores, and end consumers. AB InBev expanded within existing areas, diversified, and increased its sales channels and its inventory. For such a robust digital transformation, it was of paramount importance that AB InBev had a strong technological backbone. Fortunately, VTEX had powered some of AB InBev’s ecommerce strategies in Latin America since 2016 and signed a global deal in 2020 to scale that commitment. The result so far has been soaring growth in the DTC arena for AB InBev, which is expected to grow even further.

In the DTC space, VTEX powers a number of AB InBev’s multibrand online retailers that offer consumers hundreds of crafted, imported, and local beers and spirits, using ecommerce features such as geolocation, cash back, gift cards, payment in installments, and dark stores to quickly and easily fulfill online orders. With the ease and flexibility of the VTEX platform on AWS, AB InBev took the opportunity to extend the functionality to new operations with a few clicks. Having one codebase and team to deploy a platform to many countries is a tremendous benefit to AB InBev. This way, the team can concentrate on building critical custom features instead.

One outstanding example is Brahma Express in Brazil. Here, consumers can order large beer kegs and have them shipped home, ready for a good party. VTEX’s omnichannel capabilities integrated over 100 franchises into the store’s system, identifying the closest shop that can ship the order based on the shopper’s postal code. The cherry on top is that Brahma Express will return in a few days to pick up the used keg. This ease-of-use triggered phenomenal growth, with store revenue increasing 43 percent postmigration to VTEX, covering January–November periods of 2021 over 2020.

Delivery services make rapid delivery a standard

Another focus point for AB InBev is strengthening its delivery services. Instead of building a delivery app from scratch, the company simply integrated one into VTEX for full management of delivery—all within weeks. Multiple grocery stores are connected to the delivery platform, ensuring consumers get cold beer at grocery store prices delivered, free and fast, eliminating the need to carry the beer home, giving their customers cold beer at their disposal, and offering it to them at the best price possible.

Hear directly from the customer

Watch an interview with France Roy, global VP of DTC technology at AB InBev, and learn why AB InBev chose VTEX to help power its global marketplace and point-of-sale functionality running on AWS, facilitating contactless ordering and delivery in multiple markets across the globe.

Watch the video »

VTEX on AWS delivers gold-standard service to AB InBev

The VTEX Commerce Platform enabled AB InBev to have a solid digital commerce strategy in place to meet shifting consumer demand. A headless commerce solution offered not only control over the customer experience but also room for customization, a mobile-responsive user experience, and fast time to market. With technology like this, AB InBev is confident that it can meet its customers’ and consumers’ expectations.

For a more in-depth look at how AB InBev rolled out its VTEX solution, check out this case study.

AWS Partner spotlight

AWS Partner VTEX provides a software-as-a-service digital commerce platform for enterprise brands and retailers. Customers can use this solution to improve their commerce strategy, including building online stores, integrating and managing orders across channels, and creating marketplaces to sell products from third-party vendors. Founded in Brazil, VTEX is a leader in accelerating the digital commerce transformation in Latin America and is expanding globally. Its platform is engineered to enterprise-level standards and features, and it has more than 2,000 customers with over 2,500 active online stores across 32 countries.