Grupo Mariposa: Harnessing connected technology in the LatAm food and beverage market

Grupo Mariposa partnered with McKinsey to create an end-to-end ecosystem powered by AI and digital solutions to help overcome the challenges of a market with over 3 million points of sale.

“The key to success for a digital transformation is not one brilliant idea but it's millions of decisions that you make, which are going to create this great solution for the group.”
– Juan Pablo Mata, CEO of Apex by Grupo Mariposa

At the heart is a new platform powered by advanced analytics, and the strategic partner Yalo offering "conversational commerce," which allows store owners to conveniently connect with the brand and manage order inventory. The easy-to-use digital tool also gives store owners greater agency by supplying them with personalized recommendations based on market trends and supporting them to better serve their customers and rotate inventory. Instead of relying only on a salesperson to tell them what to order, store owners (“tiendas”) are advised by digital tools which learn from micro-segments in their own neighborhoods to help them place and track orders digitally.

The platform also includes modular solutions for customer service, microloans, loyalty programs, and other services. It enables shopkeepers and sales team to receive stock-out predictions and order suggestions, place and track orders, and participate in customized loyalty programs. It also helps drive growth by offering business intelligence and knowledge to build management skills, contributing to the evolution of small shopkeepers into micro business owners.

McKinsey and Mariposa built the platform with open technology and microservice architecture, enabling future integration with external partners. Ultimately, the partners intend to make the platform available to additional companies as a SaaS offering. The vision is to bring lenders, food and consumer goods suppliers, delivery services, and other companies that create value for store owners into an open ecosystem.

”The heart of our digital ecosystem revolves around conversational commerce. Recognizing that our partner SMEs heavily utilize WhatsApp, we realized that instead of creating standalone applications, it would be more effective to utilize the platform that our customers are most comfortable with and use frequently throughout the day. This allowed us to establish direct communication with them and aim for digital leadership.”
– Alfredo Jose Castaneda, Digital Transformation Leader, Apex by Grupo Mariposa

Just as important as the connection with store owners, Mariposa’s transformation digitizes its go-to-market model. Mariposa co-developed with McKinsey a proprietary platform to provide digital tools to transform the commercial frontline roles. This platform is also being marketed to other CPGs and distributors. It includes an Atomic Task module that provides each salesperson with a prioritized list of each day’s tasks. Reps check off tasks as they finish them on their mobile devices, doing away with paperwork. Reps can also review an AI-generated suggested order list based on consumer behavior data for each store they visit and place orders digitally.  Delivery drivers, whether in-house or through a vendor, can instantly call up the most efficient route for the day’s stops.

All these technology solutions were made possible by a transformation of Mariposa’s internal culture. Mariposa integrated digital transformation as part of its identity and communicated the goals and rationale of the transformation throughout the organization. The company created an implementation playbook that spelled out the elements of the transformation and then formed a change management committee to oversee the process and support the new agile operating model. It cemented the changes with a revamped performance management system and incentives.

With these supports in place, Mariposa hired more than 50 highly skilled digital team members in eight countries across all digital domains . Working in global agile teams, they helped build tools and capabilities while redesigning and streamlining processes. The final cornerstone of the success was the engagement of the senior leadership team. Mariposa’s CEO and Group President met weekly with the transformation team for over two years to bring the vision to action.