E-commerce in Latin America part 2
By Anika in Business opportunities, Export on 26. Jun, 2013No Comments
As we discussed in the ‘E-commerce in Latin America part 1’, Latin America is booming. More than 235 million online consumers make Latin America an attractive e-commerce market.
In this blog we will discuss e-commerce trends in Peru, Costa Rica and Brazil.
Peru
If you think about Peru, the first thing in mind is probably Machu Picchu. If you think about e-commerce, I can imagine that you don’t see one of the Inca’s in the mountains with a laptop. But Peru has much more to offer.
E-commerce in Peru is beginning to expand. After years of slow growth, e-commerce seems to be gaining a lot of acceptance. The number of Peruvian people with a computer and internet access is still low, but it is increasing. Around 25% of the population has a computer and half of them have internet access from home. Many people still use cyber café’s to surf the web.
Some dominant e-commerce companies are active in Peru and are serving the whole Latin American continent. Several Peruvian companies adapted the system and are introducing e-commerce to expand their services and furthermore banks are promoting online services via their websites. Many Peruvians don’t use credit cards, however the introduction of electronic cards which can be used as a pre-paid credit card makes online shopping more attractive.
Because of government investment promotion, foreign companies have concession to invest in network infrastructure.
Costa Rica
Besides being an eco-friendly destination, Costa Rica is also very popular for their business parks. Many multinationals have establishments in Costa Rica. Especially in the IT sector, Costa Rica is a very popular destination. The flexible regulatory system makes e-commerce also interesting for business like online casinos. For a couple of years already, the hotels and tourism projects use internet to sell their services.
The use of internet continues to increase and currently more than 34 percent of the population has online access. Since the implementation of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) e-commerce is increasing. The Costa Rican telecommunication market was dominated by a state-owned telecom provider which made internet use limited and expensive. The law changes in 2008 made it possible for private enterprises to enter the telecom market and sell their services.
Brazil: Social Networks for buying products
E-commerce in Brazil is totally different in comparison to other Latin American countries, not only in the number of users but also in the way how internet is being used. In number of users Brazil has the largest market in internet services. Brazil has more than 73 million internet users. The number of online transactions is increasing as well as mobile phone use. Internet transactions vary in services as well as in online purchases of goods, banking service and government communication.
Brazil has not online the most advanced carnival in the world, but also the most advanced ICT infrastructure. Banks are still heavily investing in computer technology and updating the IT infrastructure. The government is providing many online resources for export oriented companies to promote foreign trade.
Brazilians use social networks to buy products more than anywhere else in Latin America. Most Brazilians conduct research on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter before deciding whether to buy a product. More than 60 percent of all Brazilians look for information on the social networks before they make an online purchase. In addition to searching for information, the social networks are also used to show preferences for certain brands. More than 70 percent trust more in what they read on these networks that in the opinions of specialists.
This brings many new challenges and opportunities. It would be very interesting to observe the impact of e-commerce for the World Soccer Championship in 2014 and the Olympics for 2016.
Worldwide e-commerce is a very popular free zone activity. Since many companies are showing their interest in doing business with Brazil, Aruba seems to be an attractive location. The strategic location, High-Tec infrastructure and multi-lingual population make Aruba an ideal spot for e-commerce to serve the Latin-American market.
If you are planning on doing e-commerce from Aruba or if you want to have more information about doing e-commerce from Aruba, please contact us at account.executive@fzanv.com for more information.
We hope you enjoyed reading the e-commerce blogs.
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