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Beyond Borders

2020/2021 Study

E-commerce and payments in Latin America after COVID-19

EBANX's annual exclusive study is out! Curated by EBANX's experts, this study provides a contextualized portrait of the behavioral trends shaping the region's payments and cross-border e-commerce market, especially after Covid-19.

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Key Takeaways

  • Alongside the fintech revolution in Latin America, mobile phone ownership and mobile internet access are vital to increasing digital consumers. A significant milestone to fuel this increasing connectivity emerged in the first quarter of 2020: 4G has finally become the leading technology in Latin America, according to GSMA.

  • The emergency measures taken to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 were also the backdrop of a greater-than-expected digitization and financial inclusion in the region. Brazil is experiencing the most prominent financial inclusion process ever occurred at a global level.

  • Americas Market Intelligence (AMI), a partner in this study, estimates that Latin America’s e-commerce market will end 2020 at around $192.63 billion, almost 8.5% over 2019. Furthermore, it could move from the second to the first fastest-growing region for e-commerce, alongside SE Asia, in 2021.

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  • To further explore this background, we also carried out an exclusive survey with more than 3,200 cross-border consumers from Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile. We found out that Latin Americans are buying much more online but are not changing their payment habits at the same speed.

  • In Mexico, Colombia, and Chile, 33.9% of the survey's respondents say they are buying much more through their smartphones than previously. In Brazil, this share is even higher: 42% of respondents said that the frequency with which they shop online has not changed, and 74% of them said they had made more than two purchases via smartphone in the last 12 months.

  • Another key insight about the region's primary economy is that Brazilians did not stop using boleto bancário. Instead, they "updated" the method: 68% of the 1,900 respondents in the country said they prefer boleto for online purchases, and 56% said they pay the voucher electronically.

Learn more:
The main trends for Latin America in 2021

After gathering the most comprehensive data about the Latin American market, we also took a deep dive into the region’s main digital trends. From the impact of PIX, Brazil's instant payment system in e-commerce, and Colombia's fintech revolution to the next big thing in logistics.

Read it all on LABS - Latin America Business Stories, a news outlet focused on business, tech, and society powered by EBANX.