Launching a Foreign App in Brazil

Based on my experience over the past year helping a foreign brand establish itself in Brazil, I've come to some conclusions that I'd like to share and discuss. The process of launching Lessy, a Russian app designed to find supermarket discounts, was filled with unique challenges, especially when adapting a solution that’s popular in Russia to the Brazilian market. Below, I’ll outline what I believe are the best practices—and the mistakes to avoid—when launching a foreign brand in Brazil.

Understanding Lessy:

Lessy is a geo-location-based app that acts as a search engine for discounts, daily deals, weekly offers, and special conditions in supermarkets. It’s designed for those who research before making a purchase. It works like a price comparison tool, showing users where they should go to make their purchases. An important note: the app currently only displays prices; no transactions can be made within the app. The app’s goal is to help supermarkets waste less food and sell more, while enabling people to buy more and spend less. In essence, the app helps users find something interesting, guides them to the store, and lets them complete their purchase there.

Dos and Don'ts When Launching a Foreign Brand in Brazil

(Most things here I believe that are somewhat obvious decisions, however, to talk about launching products that succeded somewhere in the world and are looking for going abroad I must say all this in this article).

What You Should Do:

- Adapt Communication to the Local Audience: It’s crucial to understand the culture and consumption habits of the Brazilian public. Always use language that resonates with Brazilians, highlighting the benefits they value. Personalize campaigns and create content that emotionally connects with consumers. It’s essential to understand that while something Russian can work in Brazil, it needs to have a local twist to succeed.

- Conduct Thorough Market Research: Before entering a new market, it’s vital to conduct comprehensive market research. Understand who the main competitors are, the local consumption habits, and sector trends. Having spent the last year in constant contact with people from a culture entirely different from mine, I’ve learned that what works in one place might not work in another. Understanding the local customer is crucial for business success. Brazilians are unique in their way.

- Build Trust-Based Relationships: The Brazilian market values long-term relationships and mutual trust, especially in the traditional supermarket retail sector, where this project aims to grow. Take the time to build solid relationships with local partners and be transparent about your intentions and values. This is particularly important when negotiating with retailers and other stakeholders.

- Educate the Consumer: If your product or service is unfamiliar to the Brazilian consumer, it’s essential to invest in education, which is the case with the Lessy app. Educational campaigns and demonstrations can help create awareness and increase the acceptance of your product in the market. One important fact is that Brazilians are the world’s most active social media users, so being present on all platforms and partnering with influencers can significantly help.

What You Should Never Do:

- Never Underestimate Cultural Differences: Avoid applying strategies that worked in other markets without adapting them to the local context. What works in Russia might not be well-received in Brazil. Ignoring these differences can and will lead to failure.

- Don’t Force Partnerships Without Mutual Understanding: There’s no point in trying to impose partnerships with retailers or other partners without first understanding their needs and concerns. An aggressive approach can create resistance and jeopardize long-term relationships.

- Don’t Neglect User Retention: Focusing solely on acquiring new users without a solid plan for retaining them can be a fatal mistake. It’s essential to create a continuous engagement cycle, ensuring that users see value in using the app regularly. This is where the massive importance of social media, CRM, user education, and partnerships with influencers who have the audience you seek comes into play. Brazilians tend to download apps, but they need to know how and why to use them. Another interesting fact: Brazilians rank fourth in the world for app downloads. We download them, but if we don’t understand them, we delete them, and the chances of redownloading are slim. Educating users is crucial.

- Don’t Ignore Local Buying Behavior: Brazilians are increasingly accustomed to receiving “benefits”—miles, progressive discounts, cashback, loyalty programs, and more. It’s essential to consider all of this when discussing an app aimed at millions of users. Brazilians are also used to shopping online. Is it worth having only the option to research online and shop in-store? Will Brazilians actually use the app and go to the cheapest store? Researching beforehand is essential. Understanding whether your product makes sense for the people you want to reach and if what you offer (supermarket discounts) makes sense for the sellers is crucial. In this case, the challenge is twofold: convincing both supermarket chains and the Brazilian public.

Launching Lessy in Brazil: Challenges and Lessons Learned

Launching Lessy in Brazil was a journey full of challenges and learning. Lessy has over 130 million users across all its operating countries. In Russia, where Lessy is most prominent, with over 90 million users, and in other parts of Europe, researching deals before heading to physical stores is a common practice, almost a tradition. But when we brought this solution to Brazil, we encountered a completely different world, full of particularities we needed to understand and adapt to.

The Initial Challenge: Convincing Retailers

The first challenge was gaining the trust of major Brazilian retailers. Lessy’s value proposition is clear: bring more customers to physical stores, help increase sales, and reduce waste while providing savings to consumers. However, convincing Brazilian retailers to engage with a Russian brand required patience and persistence.

Supermarkets in Brazil are traditionally conservative, and many still harbor a certain distrust of foreign brands, especially Russian ones. I heard more than once that they wouldn’t do business with “Russians,” highlighting the need to offer not just a valuable solution but also to build trust-based relationships.

Educating the Brazilian Consumer

Another significant challenge was educating the Brazilian consumer. Unlike Europe, where the habit of researching deals before shopping is already ingrained, we found that many Brazilian consumers do not have this habit. Many Brazilians have a favorite store and trust the in-store shopping experience without needing to research online beforehand. The big question is, HOW TO EDUCATE BRAZILIANS? With the two following informations I believe that this question is answered:

Brazil is the country where people:

• Use the most Social Media in the World (average of over 9 hours PER DAY)
• Influencers have the best "ROI" in the world (people actually take influencers as influencers and tend to follow their tips)

Findings:

As a result, Lessy finaly realized that our communication needed to be adjusted for the local audience. Initially, we maintained a similar approach to what was used in Russia, but it became clear that this wouldn’t work here. Brazilians need to be treated as Brazilians, and our messaging needed to be more relatable and adapted to the local reality and culture.

In other words, having a Brazilian team is essential when trying to expand a brand in Brazil.

Growth and the Retention Problem

Despite the challenges, we managed to secure partnerships with major brands in Brazil and reached over 850,000 downloads in just nine months. This is a significant achievement considering the competitiveness of the market. However, we encountered a new problem: user retention. Although we had almost 850,000 users, our daily active user average was below 1,000 people—a very low number compared to our expectations.

This low retention made us reflect on several points, particularly the need to deeply understand the behavior of Brazilian consumers. Brazilians are among the top app downloaders in the world, but many of these apps end up forgotten on their phones, unused. This alerted us to the significant risk of entering a giant market like Brazil without a deep understanding of how your product will be received and used.

Final Lessons

Over time, a few key lessons became clear:

- Local Communication is Essential: There’s no point in replicating strategies that worked in other countries. Marketing needs to be adapted to local culture and habits. The team must be local.

- Patience with Retailers: Be prepared to face resistance and distrust, especially from conservative major players.

- Market Research is Crucial: Before embarking on any international venture, it’s essential to thoroughly research whether the market is ready for your product. This includes understanding consumption habits, how your app will be used, and how partners will accept it.

- The Phygital Challenge: While the concept of “phygital”—where consumers research online and shop in-store, or vice versa—is gaining traction, there’s still a long way to go in Brazil. The in-store experience remains a crucial loyalty point for Brazilian consumers, but educating the customer about this is vital.

Conclusion:

Launching Lessy in Brazil was a challenging but incredibly enriching journey. The experience taught us the importance of respecting the cultural and market nuances of each country. Lessy has enormous potential to help both retailers and Brazilian consumers, but success in Brazil depends on a carefully adapted approach and a deep understanding of the local market's particularities.