E-commerce should reach 4.9 trillion US dollars by 2025 – Jornal Contábil
Even with the global crisis and high inflation, e-commerce is growing and continues to be one of the main shopping opportunities for Brazilians.
The e-commerce market in Latin America continues to grow. In 2021, it amounted to 139 billion dollars, with a forecast that it will reach 4.9 trillion in 2025. This is shown by detailed research conducted by Magis5, a startup that develops solutions for integration with major marketplaces and e-commerce platforms.
The company sought data from the main players involved in e-commerce in Latin America, such as VTEX, Magalu, Mercado Livre and Americanas, with the aim of understanding the current situation of this gigantic market and, also, devising strategies for future actions, since the focus companies to connect and automate the work of sellers within these channels.
Market situation and number of main players
The first point that attracts attention is that there was a clear growth and maturation of Brazilian e-commerce as a means of purchase for the population, which was stimulated by the onset and peak of the covid-19 pandemic. After the boom, 2020 saw slightly lower growth compared to the previous year, especially due to the rise in inflation and the fuel crisis, along with the war between Russia and Ukraine, which increased freight rates and affected product prices as well.
“With the Ukrainian war and the rise of interest rates, investments have slowed down around the world, which may affect the results of these large companies in the short and medium term with the more modest growth of Brazilian e-commerce,” says Vinícius Ribeiro, head of marketing at Magis5.
Still, the numbers were interesting. The first quarter of 2022 was positive for major e-commerce players such as VTEX, a Brazilian technology multinational focused on cloud commerce, and clients such as Sony, Walmart, Coca-Cola and AB InBev, which showed revenue growth and GMV (a metric applied to online retail that helps companies determine how much revenue their digital channels generated in a given period) of about 30% compared to the same period in 2021.
On the other hand, Magalu recorded a quarterly growth of 13%, with intensive participation of e-commerce. Even after the reopening of physical stores throughout the Brazilian territory, which historically has always been a strong point since the company’s founding, online sales represent more than 72% of the company’s total sales, a number that by 2020 represented only 53% of total sales. .
In the last 2 years, Magalu has grown about 149% in the number of online sales, it is the main driver of the accelerated growth of e-commerce, with 36% of sales and about 180 thousand sellers selling legally and formally.
Americanas SA, formerly B2W, showed a growth in its GMV of almost 22% and a net income of R$ 6.8 billion. The company’s main strategic change was to strengthen its logistics, speed up product delivery times and enable more efficient purchasing and collection in physical stores, which led to an 8% growth in the active customer base.
Mercado Livre, the main player in the national e-commerce and the most valuable company in Latin America, presented a GMV growth of 32% compared to 2012. In addition to the expansion of the logistics network and the strategy of expanding the product portfolio, the company also invested in strengthening its fintech Mercado Envios , managing to maintain consistent results even when the world economy is not going in his favor.
It is significant that despite the unfavorable macroeconomic scenario, people have started buying items that are not common and are only bought in physical facilities. The list of increasingly present products includes categories such as pharmacy, supermarket, basic hygiene and cosmetic supplies, and even clothing has recorded growth in e-commerce. On VTEX alone, for example, market and grocery items are responsible for 12% of total sales on the platform, the third largest category behind only fashion and beauty items.
Claudio Dias, CEO of Magis5, confirms the idea: “These trends and the current scenario and changes in consumer behavior are already reflected in Brazilian e-commerce. Despite this influence, here at Magis5, month after month, we experience constant and consistent growth”.
About Magis5
