VTEX News: What's changed on the platform and how to take advantage of it before the high season.

Artificial intelligence has moved from the background of e-commerce to the center of operations. In VTEX Vision , presented during VTEX Day in April 2026 , VTEX reorganized its entire offering around autonomous AI agents, a shift that changes how stores, customer service, and media function daily. For those who make a living from online sales, keeping up with VTEX's innovations now, on the eve of the peak season, is what separates those who arrive at Black Friday with their operations streamlined from those who will be scrambling to catch up later.

This article summarizes what has actually changed (from new AI agents to commerce within WhatsApp) and points out what can already be tested before the peak sales period at the end of the year.

VTEX news on direct points.

Before going into detail, it's worth noting the map. What VTEX has put into practice is organized as follows:

• The platform was reorganized into three AI-native pillars: Commerce Platform, CX Platform, and Ads Platform, all with AI agents at their core, according to the VTEX Vision press release.
• VTEX AI Workspace is the new operating environment: In this system, autonomous agents monitor data, adjust campaigns, and automate catalog and end-to-end management tasks.
• CX Platform brings the entire customer journey into WhatsApp: From start to finish purchase, autonomous service and, as a new feature, real-time voice commerce.
• After-sales service has become almost entirely automated: VTEX claims that over 91% of its post-purchase customer service is automated with AI, reducing the amount of repetitive tasks that reach the human team.
• B2B and discovery have gained their own players: AI-powered quoting generates quotes from a file or voice command, and in the United States, integration with Google enables discovery and checkout within Gemini.
• VTEX Rise opens the door to enterprise technology: Growing brands gain access to the same platform as large retailers, with an entry-level model designed for those who are still scaling.

AI at the core: what is VTEX AI Workspace?

The most structural change is in positioning. Until now, AI appeared as an additional resource within the platform; in VTEX Vision, it has become the foundation upon which everything works . In the words of Geraldo Thomaz , founder and co-CEO of VTEX , " AI has evolved from a simple tool to become the very core of the operation ."

The VTEX AI Workspace is the centerpiece of this proposal. It's an environment that brings together specialized autonomous agents, each with a specific role: monitoring data, adjusting campaigns, automating the catalog, and supporting the team's decision-making. Instead of the manager opening multiple dashboards and manually cross-referencing information, the agents work in a coordinated manner and deliver actionable analysis.

For the operation, the main effect is time. Tasks that used to occupy hours of an analyst's time (reviewing prices, reorganizing storefronts, checking campaign performance) now run in the background . Near a date like Black Friday , when every adjustment counts and the volume of decisions explodes, this gain ceases to be a comfort and becomes responsiveness.

Agent-based commerce and WhatsApp: the store within the conversation.

The second major front is the VTEX CX Platform , focused on customer experience. It places AI agents working independently, but in an integrated way, throughout the entire journey (from discovery to after-sales) and uses WhatsApp as a native channel.

Three features summarize what has changed. The Agentic Multichannel Experience guides discovery and purchase on the web, WhatsApp, and other messaging platforms. The WhatsApp Store allows customers to complete the entire purchase within the app, without leaving the conversation. And Voice Commerce opens the door to real-time voice interactions, both for purchasing and receiving customer service.

In post-sales service, VTEX cites over 91% AI-assisted automation in handling order status, exchanges, and returns. This type of demand grows alongside sales and often clogs customer service during peak days. With agents handling repetitive issues, the human team is freed up for tasks requiring judgment. To understand this pillar in depth, the e-Plus blog has already detailed it in the article "4 benefits of the VTEX CX Platform".

VTEX Ads and B2B: Media and sales with AI agents.

The third front focuses on revenue and margin. The VTEX Ads Platform transforms the retailer's digital environment into a media asset, known as retail media . AI Campaign Management creates and optimizes multichannel campaigns according to business goals, focusing on improving ROAS, while AI Insights for Brands gives brands visibility into performance, attribution, and market share.

In B2B , the highlight is AI Quotation : generating quotes from a file or voice command, which shortens one of the slowest cycles in corporate sales. And, in the United States, integration with Google 's Universal Commerce Protocol has brought discovery and checkout into Gemini and Google AI Mode , a first concrete step towards agentic commerce in search engines.

Bringing the three fronts together, the new VTEX design looks like this:

VTEX's latest offerings and the high season: where to begin?

Advertising alone doesn't generate results. What determines profitability is the configuration, and the calendar doesn't help those who leave it until the last week. Testing a new feature during peak sales is the quickest way to encounter problems at the worst possible time.

Some strategies perform better when activated in advance. WhatsApp purchasing and customer service require a tested workflow and integrated catalog to function at high volume . Retail media campaigns need algorithm learning time before achieving the expected ROAS . And post-sales automation only reduces customer service queues if the exchange, return, and status policies are correct from the start.

To determine if it's working, the key indicators are the usual ones, read with extra attention during this period: conversion rate per channel , ROAS of campaigns, customer service response time , ticket deflection , and shopping cart recovery . Going into Black Friday with these numbers measured and resources already running is very different from turning everything on the eve and hoping for the best.

VTEX Rise: the gateway to enterprise technology.

Not every brand that wants these innovations is an enterprise operation, and that's where VTEX Rise comes in . The program brings growing brands and e-commerce businesses to the same technology used by large VTEX retailers, with an entry model tailored to the stage of the business . The goal is to avoid the rework of switching platforms with each revenue surge.

The front-end is built on FastStore , a base made with React and Next.js , which is fast and optimized for SEO and conversion (a factor that directly impacts loading speed during peak traffic). The program also offers true omnichannel capabilities: headquarters, franchises, stores, and distribution centers share inventory, with in-store pickup and shipping from the physical location. The VTEX Sales App also allows salespeople to check inventory at other units and complete sales anywhere in the store.

e-Plus operates as a certified agency in the VTEX Rise program , has been a VTEX partner since 2015, and has been present in the VTEX Quadrant since its first edition. Details of the program and the onboarding process are available on the VTEX Rise page on the e-Plus website.

Transform VTEX innovations into a sell-ready operation.

Each new VTEX feature delivers more when the foundation is well-built: an organized catalog, integrations in place, and a platform aligned with your business model. This is the work that determines how much of the new features your operation will actually capture this season.

e-Plus has been working with e-commerce for over 13 years and specializes in the implementation, migration, and evolution of operations on VTEX. If your company wants to get the platform (and the new features announced in VTEX Vision) up and running before the sales peak, talk to the e-Plus team of experts.

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