Latin America has a huge eCommerce industry with some well-established entities. There are around 300 million digital buyers which is predicted to grow up to 20% by 2025. The number of eCommerce users is around 298 million. Moreover, the country with the highest penetration of the eCommerce industry is Argentina.
Source: Statista
Compared to other parts of the world the e-commerce sales in Latin America may not be too competitive but it’s still huge. The expected reach is about 85 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 and by 2025 it’s predicted to raise up to 160 billion. On the regional level, Latin America’s eCommerce industry is showing much more competition. The two leading regions are Brazil and Mexico that contributes up to 31% to 28% of the total revenues. Apart from them, Colombia, Argentina and Peru.
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Ecommerce Consumer Behavior in Latin America
COVID has influenced a new normal consumer behavior which has brought a turning point in the industry of Latin America. People locked inside their homes, secluded from socializing and prohibited to be at any public place, created difficulties for the entrepreneurs especially the marketers. Where many brick and mortar stores got vanished from within the industry, the e-sales recorded a growth reaching up to 230% during the first week of the pandemic.
Furthermore, the demand for on-demand services including home delivery increases. As per the statistics, food and personal care products became the fastest-growing category in the commerce industry and will continue to top the charts till the year 2025.
Many witnessed astounding growth in Latin America with their impressive and progressive business models. Here is a list of those marketplaces that top the charts and is continuing to make better growth.
Marketplace |
Region |
Product Category |
Monthly Visitors |
|
eWorldTrade |
Global | General |
668.2M |
|
Mercado Libre |
Latin America | General |
667.7M |
|
Netshoes |
Brazil | General | 27.0M |
| Casas Bahia | Brazil | General |
83.6M |
|
Amazon |
Global | General | 169.0M |
| Shopee | Southeast Asia | General |
40.7M |
| Falabella | Chile | General |
24.2M |
As you can view from the statistics, eWorldTrade tops the charts in Latin America. It has around 668.2 million monthly visitors. It’s a seamless marketplace that despite having a global reach has won the hearts of the locals. Coming second on the list is Mercado Libre which is the local marketplace of the region. It is the second-best entity that has nearly 667.7 million monthly visitors.
The platform is not much known outside Latin America but within the region, it has a huge footprint. Coming third in the league is Amazon which has nearly 167 million monthly visitors. eBay and brands like them cannot survive to create a presence as the huge percentage of an audience gives to the three marketplaces.
Compared to other parts of the world the e-commerce sales in Latin America may not be too competitive but it’s still huge. The expected reach is about 85 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 and by 2025 it’s predicted to raise to 160 billion.
Furthermore, brands like Casas Bahia and Shoptime have been progressing at a much faster pace for the last few years. These brands put exclusive focus on Brazil. Moreover, Shopee is the next big hit on the list. It’s in the Southeast Asia region along with having other localized platforms for Brazil and Mexico.
1. eWorldTrade
eWorldTrade is one of the biggest ecommerce marketplaces with a global footprint. The platform has over 100 prominent categories each having notable sellers. This premier B2B marketplace entertains millions of buyers from around the world. Categories like Apparel, Beauty and personal care, Automobile, Lights and lighting, Food and beverages, Minerals and metallurgy, Chemicals, and home appliances are progressing fast.
There are thousands of sub categories in each main category for which buyers are more inclined in Latin America. Even during the pandemic, the brand has served millions of active buyers with top quality products. Reliable and fastest trading has been their motto.
Sellers on eWorldTrade have the liberty to target the audience of every region. Wherever the platform can reach its sellers gain accessibility to that particular region as well. This is why the platform is gaining huge momentum in sales and revenue generation.
Apart from this, eWorldTrade is credible for its high-quality supplies. Each seller is first verified and made sure to pass through the platform’s standards and then allowed a profile on it. In case of any consistent bad reviews, the profile is moved away from the search results.
2. Mercado Libre
Mercado Libre, founded in Argentina in 1999, is a premier marketplace working on the motto to keep the customers fully satisfied. The brand has made sure to deliver top-quality supplies to every customer all over Latin America. Among the local marketplaces, it is regarded as the best platform.
Marcoda Libre has 40% of its buyers from Brazil whereas 21% comes from Argentina. It offers swift online transactions with multiple payment gateways. The independent eCommerce store gives employment to over 15,000 employees and is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
The business model of Marcado Libre is a clone of eBay; however, it is far more adaptable and seamless. Furthermore, the site uses an automatic translation tool that sets the prices in U.S. dollars. In this way, the rates are not affected with the change in currency.
3. Netshoes
The Brazilian eCommerce platform focused on selling sports goods has a huge visitors count every month. Established in 2000, the conglomerate maintains the central distribution channel in Brazil. It has many official stores of Curitiba, Palmeiras, Cruz Azul, and River Plate. the brand is also the representative of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Furthermore. Netshoes offers supplies to the many online shops for renowned brands like Globo Esporte, Puma, Topper, and UFC trademark.
Furthermore, due to the high-quality supplies, the brand has over 27 million monthly visitors. Its physical store was launched back in 2007 and in 2019 it got registered as one of the leading entities in Brazil. When it comes to its distribution centers, it has its store located in five major regions in Latin America- cities of Barueri, Mexico, Itapevi and Recife, Brazil and Argentina.
4. Casas Bahia
Casas Bahia comes as the second largest local marketplace. It is massive and has a monthly visitor count of about 25 million. It is considered the largest Brazilian marketplace with the best quality products and an enormous network. Over 1000 physical stores are there that are fully operational. B2W Group operates three major chains of stores including Casa Bahria.
However, offering the finest collection of home appliances, electronics and computing, the platform leads with millions of active visitors every month. The business model works on a strategy that involves attracting low-income buyers and to indulge them in huge amounts of goods.
In this way, the customers keep returning to the site to complete their payments and get attracted to newer products. The instalment payment plan works best in creating new leads and in binding the customers on a long-term relationship.
To sell on Casa Bahria sellers should register themselves in the Via Varejo marketplace. Once done they can access all the three main sites and can sell products on them according to their individual niches and industries.
5. Amazon
Amazon has a global presence. From its logo to its product listing to the fastest delivery it ensures, every aspect of the business model attracts millions of visitors monthly. The platform is doing great in Latin America as well scoring the count of about 73 million active visitors only from Mexico whereas the total count is nearly 160 million.
The platform receives visitors from every region of Latin America. Amazon’s global traffic from Latin America accounts for about 3% and due to its enormous reach, it has resided as the top platform among the eCommerce ventures.
The platform is exercising many notable techniques to attract customers and to indulge them in the online store. One such practices is the Prime membership program and customer loyalty program. Sellers needs to get verified to be allowed to have a profile on the platform. There are many strict policies that ensure to check the credibility of the seller and his products.
Back in 2015, Amazon launched its marketplace in Mexico and with that, it initiated creating a presence in digital products. Moreover, Amazon further created the policy to create fulfilment centers of the Prime membership program.
6. Shopee
Shopee with its notable global footprint has been regarded as one of the finest eCommerce marketplaces in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. It was launched in 2018 with tailored solutions in the regions of Latin America. The secure, seamless and fastest processing store gives a convenient and satisfying experience to the buyers. The diverse payment methods attract a huge population of the target audience. The core mission of Shopee is to offer an enjoyable, accessible and easy to shop platform.
Shopee works on the business model to bring transformative changes in the world of the eCommerce industry. Its platform and strategy all embark on bringing modern shopping experiences for the visitors and shoppers. The platform positions itself among highly prospective buyers and attracts them through various result-oriented channels and approaches. There is a social community that can bind the visitors together and with a wide selection of products the visitors count never decline.
When it comes to operating in Latin America, the platform has over 41 million monthly visitors coming from Brazil and a similar count in Taiwan. The traffic from Mexico, Chile and Colombia are huge as well. Furthermore, when talking about accessibility, Shopee offers a 12% commission for Brazilian businesses upon registration.
7. Falabella
With over 500+ stores, Falabella is the next big name in the eCommerce industry of Latin America. It makes the gross loan book of about $6.3 billion with more than 400 corporate collects in different regions. The strategy of the platform is based on the motto to change the lives of sellers and to offer high-quality supplies to buyers.
The aim is to build a robust shopping experience that can indulge and engage the target audience. Transforming the experiences of the buyers, the platform has a special place in Latin America. To strengthen the capabilities of the platform, Falabella comes up with a refined strategy and business approach. The flexible payment methods, greater accessibility to reach out to the target audience and healthy eCommerce ecosystem make it one of the best platforms. Furthermore, Falabella sells an enormous list of merchandise on its platform along with allowing third-party market range that further extends its online reach.
The Impact of COVID On the Ecommerce Industry of Latin America
The retail industry in Latin America boomed as the pandemic hit the region raising its sales up to 37% in 2020. The massive growth and prospective markets have attracted many international platforms. Before the pandemic, there was a general mistrust among the public overusing online methods.
However, after the pandemic, as stores were forced to take the digital shift, there was left no other option than to bring improvisation. Due to this, the people of Latin America had to use the online methods to shop and eventually the system improved giving more secured channels to order goods and supplies from.
From industries including pharmaceutical to healthcare and personal care, many sprouted to the top within months. The market boomed leading to an enormous growth. Now as the consumers are more conscious and learned about finding safer and cost-effective ways to shop, brands are making improvisation and practicing ways that can offer buyers more seamless ways to shop.
The entire shopping experience has been transformed making it easier and less hassle full for online buyers to search for their desired products.
Those who are progressing faster are carefully planning every step and following all the eCommerce top trends that can ensure greater lead generation and strengthened customer relationships. From the use of AI bots on store for enhanced customer care to integrated search option for more optimized search results, platforms are now exercising smart and intuitive moves that can help them score grater profitability and an enormous growth.
