From Recife, the couple Flávio Daniel and Marcela Luiza, 34 and 32 years old respectively, are transforming the lives of hundreds of people by teaching them how to prosper through digital entrepreneurship. They transformed their own experience with the Tradição Móveis stores, a business that started in physical retail 16 years ago and currently has a revenue of R$ 50 million, but which underwent a digital transformation during the pandemic, when they were forced to migrate to online commerce.
The furniture store was born from Daniel's desire to become independent. He worked in his father's furniture business in Recife and wanted to progress, so he decided to have his own business.
However, lacking money to invest, the young entrepreneur couldn't obtain credit from banks, much less from product suppliers. That's when he had the idea to sell the damaged products that were sitting idle in his father's store, valued at R$ 40,000, for a lower price.
With the store open, the first sales began to appear, and the entrepreneur, in addition to paying off his debt to his father, invested in new products and, little by little, as he obtained credit from manufacturers, he offered more furniture options to customers.
From the moment the store opened, Daniel already had the partnership of his then-girlfriend, Marcela Luiza, who soon became his wife and business partner. Coming from humble beginnings in the Destilaria neighborhood of Cabo de Santo Agostinho, she never imagined she would achieve professional success, especially given the challenges of being a woman undertaking a business venture alongside her husband while juggling other responsibilities at home and with children. "When I remember where I came from, my journey, I say that I am the unlikely one, because everything didn't point towards me being here, but we persisted, prospered, and achieved," she affirms.
Pandemic vs. online sales
My first foray into online sales began with a loss generated by opening a store in another city, which resulted in a debt of R$1 million. Selling through Facebook was the solution I found to cover the shortfall.
Subsequently, the Coronavirus pandemic forced the couple to completely change the way they thought about their work model. With the lockdown, they even feared for the sustainability of the business and the retention of employees – today the company employs 70 people. “But then we started selling remotely, through social media and WhatsApp. With that, we had growth and no one needed to be laid off,” recalls Daniel.
With the increase in online sales, the couple began investing in an online store, formatted through Tray, an e-commerce platform belonging to LWSA. The digital solutions provided by the company allowed the couple to sell more online, optimize business management with inventory control, invoice issuance, pricing, and marketing, all in one environment. "We needed security in customer transactions and a reliable website, as well as organization of sales and the online catalog, so we sought the technological solution that our business needed," they emphasize.
Currently, they operate the stores in an omnichannel way, that is, with physical and online sales through a virtual store and the company's digital channels. The success of the business led the couple to also invest in content strategy on social media, and together they have become, in addition to entrepreneurs, mentors for people who want to invest in or are running their own business but need knowledge to perform better.
“The improbable happens, so our advice for those who are starting or intend to start their own business is to always seek knowledge, partnerships with platforms and technology, and not forget to focus on the customer, who must always be at the center of the business to grow more and more and have recurring sales,” points out Marcela.
