Technologies: the great allies of e-commerce in LAC

The growth of internet-based consumption has been spurred largely by the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic in the region. Confinement and the consumer's drive to meet his or her needs opened up the window of e-commerce, unknown even to many.

Latin America was not the exception. Improvements in communications that followed the implementation of 5G technologies in some countries brought about major developments in the ways of communicating via the Internet, and in recent weeks, the “Black Friday,” commercially named as such because of sales in shops and tax-free days, meant that 2021 has become the best year for e-commerce in the region. As a result, growth projections could reach US$ 105 billion by 2025.

Statista, the statistics portal for market and opinion research and economic indicators, estimates that the Latin American and Caribbean e-commerce market will reach a retail sales value of US$ 80.5 billion by 2021.

The analysis concluded that Argentina will be the country with the highest growth with a 153% increase in sales compared to 2019, followed by Peru (121%), Colombia (92%), Brazil (74%) and Mexico (70%).

In the case of Colombia, Black Friday and the three days free of Value Added Tax (VAT) set by the government generated record e-commerce sales of more than 10.7 trillion pesos.

The country is expected to exceed US$ 7.8 billion in digital sales compared to 2020. Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Peru, on the other hand, are expected to achieve US$ 18.2 billion through e-business.

In the medium term, by 2025 or so, 4 billion people around the world could be users of the online shopping market, up 13% with respect to 2021.

The fashion sector is expected to generate the most revenue this year, with US$ 878 billion, followed by food with purchases made through mobile devices and payment platforms such as Apple Pay, Google Play and Mercado Pago.