Photograph: Alejandro Giraldo Ortega / Unsplash
The situation
Arca Continental, a major beverage bottler based in Mexico City, operated its order capture process through traditional channels: phone calls and in-person visits from store owners. This approach created recurring operational friction. Errors in order entry were common, and the manual handling of requests drove up costs across the supply chain.
A significant structural challenge compounded these issues: over 60% of store owners working with Arca Continental were minimally digital as of 2023. The company could not simply mandate adoption of a new digital platform without risking alienation of a substantial portion of its customer base. Any solution needed to meet customers where they already were, technologically speaking, rather than forcing them into unfamiliar systems.
The approach
Arca Continental designed a WhatsApp-based ordering system to modernize order capture while respecting the existing digital literacy of its customer base. WhatsApp was chosen precisely because it was already widely used by store owners—a communication tool they knew and used daily, rather than a new platform requiring training or adoption friction.
The system was integrated with Arca Continental's enterprise resource planning (ERP) infrastructure and logistics operations. This integration ensured that the WhatsApp channel connected seamlessly to real-time data on product catalogs, pricing, and active promotions. Orders placed through WhatsApp could flow directly into the company's backend systems without manual re-entry, eliminating a major source of errors and delay.
The implementation rolled out in 2023 and was subsequently expanded to operations in Ecuador and Peru after the initial impact was validated in Mexico.
What happened
The WhatsApp ordering system processed over $2.5 million in orders since its launch in 2023. The system captured 20,000 orders without requiring manual re-entry, demonstrating both the volume of adoption and the operational efficiency gains from direct system integration.
Beyond transaction volume, Arca Continental saw a 25% increase in its client base following the implementation. The modernized ordering channel attracted new customers while retaining existing ones, expanding the company's reach across its operating markets.
By turning WhatsApp into its main ordering channel, the company gained speed, accuracy and scalability.
The success in Mexico prompted the company to extend the WhatsApp ordering capability to Ecuador and Peru, indicating confidence in the model's applicability across different markets and customer bases.
The takeaway
Arca Continental's experience illustrates that effective digital transformation in B2B operations does not always require building new platforms or imposing new technologies on customers. Instead, leveraging communication channels that are already embedded in daily business practice can unlock significant operational and commercial gains. By meeting store owners on WhatsApp rather than asking them to adopt an unfamiliar system, Arca Continental removed adoption barriers while simultaneously improving order accuracy, reducing operational costs, and expanding its customer base. The approach proved scalable enough to warrant expansion across multiple countries, suggesting that the model addresses a genuine structural need in beverage distribution and similar B2B sectors where digital adoption varies widely across the customer base.
- Over 60% of store owners were minimally digital as of 2023.
- Implemented WhatsApp-based ordering system in 2023.
- Processed over $2.5 million in orders since 2023.
- Captured 20,000 orders without manual re-entry.
- Expanded from Ecuador to Mexico and Peru after validating impact.
