Granado invests in automation to speed up stock replenishment during Black Friday

As Black Friday approaches, the increase in sales brings a challenge that goes beyond the ability to attract consumers: ensuring that internal processes can keep pace with growing demand.

In 2026, Brazilian e-commerce is expected to generate R$ 13.3 billion in sales between November 26 and 29, a 20.7% increase compared with the previous year, according to a projection by Confi/Neotrust. A total of 69.4 million products are expected to be sold, 15.4% more than in 2025.

As a result, activities related to inventory, purchasing, orders, and deliveries become even more important. Manual processes that work during periods of regular demand can become bottlenecks when transaction volumes increase.

Against this backdrop, Granado is developing, in partnership with Smarthis, an automation solution to speed up the creation of purchase orders and the replenishment of products in its stores.

Automation to speed up stock replenishment

The project aims to simplify the creation of purchase orders, which previously required manual steps to be carried out in SAP.

With the new solution, employees enter the required information through a simplified interface. Based on this data, the technology performs the corresponding steps in the system.

The initiative simplifies and speeds up the creation of purchase orders, reducing the need for manual interactions in an activity directly related to product availability in stores during Black Friday 2026.

According to Allexley Bernacchi, CEO and founder of Smarthis, periods of high demand help highlight the relationship between sales growth and the capacity of internal processes.

“Selling more is important, but operations need to be able to keep up with that growth. Breaking records is of little value if the company struggles to replenish stock, process orders, or meet delivery deadlines. Black Friday ultimately becomes a test for the entire retail structure.”

More transactions increase pressure on processes

Preparing internal processes to keep pace with sales growth should be an ongoing concern for companies, particularly given recent e-commerce trends.

Between January and September 2026, the volume of orders in Brazilian e-commerce increased by 34.9%, while the average order value fell by 13.4%, according to data from Confi/Neotrust.

These figures show that even with a lower average value per purchase, companies need to be prepared to process a greater number of transactions.

Inventory updates, order validation, invoice issuance, and payment reconciliation are among the activities that may come under greater pressure. When these processes rely excessively on manual tasks or poorly integrated steps, higher volumes can increase the occurrence of errors, rework, and delays.

Technology is also part of the customer experience

Although many of these processes take place behind the scenes, their effects are directly felt by consumers.

Product availability, delivery times, and the correct fulfillment of an order depend on a series of internal activities that need to work in a coordinated manner. In this way, investments in technology also help sustain the shopping experience as volumes increase.

As Allexley points out:

“Consumers do not see what happens behind the scenes of an operation, but they notice immediately when an order is delayed or something goes wrong. That is why investing in technology is also a way to protect the shopping experience. A successful Black Friday does not end when the sale is completed.”

For this reason, preparing for dates such as Black Friday involves more than sizing infrastructure or planning commercial campaigns. It also requires understanding which processes may become bottlenecks in the face of a significant increase in demand.

Indicators such as processing time, order volume, error frequency, and deadline compliance help identify these stages and guide automation priorities.

Media coverage

The project developed by Granado in partnership with Smarthis was featured by TI Inside, a publication specializing in technology, innovation, and business.

The article covered how automation is being used to simplify the creation of purchase orders in SAP and support the retailer’s stock replenishment during a period of higher demand, highlighting the importance of preparing internal processes to keep pace with sales growth during Black Friday.

Read the full article on TI Inside: “Granado automates stock replenishment to prepare its operations for Black Friday”.

Photo: Reproduced from Granado's website