Hello, friends and readers of the e-Plus Agency blog! Happy 2022! I start this new year with a new content series, which we are calling “Big names in e-commerce”. Yes, that's right, once a month I will present here the biography of someone important to the online market, starting now with Luiza Trajano.
Born on October 9, 1948, Luiza Helena Trajano Inácio Rodrigues is currently the chairman of the board of directors of Magazine Luiza. Brazil's richest woman in 2020, she owned at the time a fortune of $4,9 billion. The following year, Time magazine listed her among the 100 most influential women in the world. But it was not always so.
THE TRAJECTORY OF LUIZA TRAJANO IN THE MAGAZINE LUIZA
Luiza Trajano started working at Magazine Luiza in 1960, when she was only 12 years old. Uncles of her Pelegrino José Donato and Luiza Trajano Donato had bought the store, which only operated in the city of Franca, in 1957.
In the beginning, that physical store had the name “Cristaleira”. But after a cultural contest carried out through the city's radio, the enterprise was renamed Magazine Luiza. The new name was a tribute to her aunt.
First, Luiza worked as a clerk during school holidays. At age 18, however, she took effect. And at the same time that she graduated in Law from the Faculty of Law of Franca, she worked in the collection and sales sectors, among others in the family business.
While the entrepreneur accumulated experiences in various roles, Magazine Luiza grew. In 1974, for example, the chain already had 30 stores in several cities. And in that exact year, the first department store with more than 5.000 m² was opened.
In 1991, Luiza reached the position of superintendent director. In this position, one of her first actions was the creation of the company's e-commerce. An e-commerce in a time when there was no internet, check it out below.
THE CREATION OF E-COMMERCE MAGAZINE LUIZA
In 1992, three years before the commercial internet was released in Brazil, Luiza launched the Magazine Luiza online store. This marked the beginning of the retailer's e-commerce business, operating on offline computers and becoming one of the first e-commerce ventures in Brazil.
To buy in the virtual store, the consumer should go to one of the physical stores of the network. Once there he could view and choose a product on the computer screen. The entire process was accompanied by a salesperson.
In this way, it was possible for the consumer to choose products that were not displayed in the physical store. Some products, by the way, were not even in the company's stock. In fact, e-commerce terminals allowed the magazine to reduce storage costs.
Today, Magazine Luiza's e-commerce business is one of the largest in Brazil and Latin America. To give you an idea, out of the 18 editions of the Ebit/Nielsen award , which recognizes the best national e-commerce businesses, Magazine Luiza has won 16 trophies.
LUIZA TRAJANO IN THE PRESIDENCY OF THE STORE NETWORK
In 2008, Luiza became the CEO of Magazine Luiza, a position she held until 2016, when she passed it on to her son Frederico Trajano, who holds it to this day. Since then, the entrepreneur has been chairman of the network's board of directors.
Today, Magazine Luiza has more than 1.100 physical stores in 23 Brazilian states and 819 municipalities. The company employs over 43.000 workers. In November 2021, its market value was equivalent to BRL 71 billion.
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