Did you know…
The concept
At Reprise Commerce, we believe that understanding and optimizing our clients’ Customer Flow helps to achieve and exceed their business objectives.
We also know that understanding consumer behavior is fundamental to developing effective strategies – it helps us to build better connections, eliminate friction in the buying process and ensure an effective experience throughout the consumer journey.
Last year, we set out in partnership with Google to explore shopper preferences and behaviors in Latin America and build a picture of the typical barriers consumers face in their shopping journeys. Our goal was to help brands make more informed decisions, empowering them to move their consumers toward a purchase.
Our approach
Together with Google, we conducted a comprehensive study that explored the eCommerce preferences of more than 21,000 people across Latin America, covering six key markets: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.
Run by Kantar, the survey covered more than 40 shopping experience attributes, studied across nine products and industry categories, including Food, Pets, and CPG.
Key findings and takeaways:
1. Smartphones are the dominant medium for online shopping
More than half of all online purchases across Latin America are made using a smartphone. The two countries with the largest economies – Brazil (70%) and Mexico (61%) – lead the way in terms of mobile preference, as well as the strongest preference for shopping via an app rather than a website.
Brazil and Mexico may well be the trendsetters for the region in terms of shopping advancements, so brands may wish to explore how best to reach their customers as preferences evolve. For brands selling DTC, it’s clear that a mobile-first approach to website design is crucial to ensure a seamless purchase journey, but that developing an app may be the ultimate goal.
For brands that aren’t able to offer an app themselves, developing relationships with retailers that offer a strong app experience will be important in the coming years.
2. The market is young
80% of online shoppers in Latin America are aged 44 or younger, and almost all of them use a smartphone. Brands will stand to benefit from investing in authentic content and influencers who can connect with their high-value audiences in the places they are browsing, including TikTok and Instagram.
3. Travel is highly digitally mature, but food and pets are lagging behind
Travel is the most mature category for online shopping in Latin America, followed by finance, electronics/tech, and fashion. Food and pets are lagging far behind other categories, but interestingly, most consumers predict a significantly higher online share of purchases in the next 24 months, particularly in the pet and food categories.
Our survey made it clear that Latin American shoppers want products to be sold at a fair price and delivered quickly and reliably. This suggests that as infrastructure and services improve across categories, there is significant room for brands to grow their revenue.
4. Latin American shoppers do intensive pre-purchase research
Shoppers consult a wide array of sources during the research phase of their purchase journey, with more than 80% of shoppers checking both Google and the brand’s website. Shoppers also consulted marketplaces like Mercado Libre/livre and Amazon as well as a variety of social media and entertainment services like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Pinterest.
The breadth and depth of shopper research in Latin America highlights the global importance of ‘everywhere commerce’ – the notion that any moment in today’s world can become shoppable. For brands, this means identifying high-value audiences (HVAs) and ensuring that they meet their consumers at the right places, with the right products, at the right time.
With so many possible moments for inspiration and purchase, brands must identify their blind spots in order to delight prospective customers.
5. LATAM is outpacing the rest of in eCommerce growth
In 2021, retail eCommerce sales amounted to approximately 4.9 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide, and this figure is expected to grow by 50% to reach about 7.4 trillion dollars by 2025. LATAM is growing at an even faster pace, with eCommerce growth expected to hit 65% over the next four years.
To download the full study, please complete the form below.
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