Brazil’s eCommerce market expands by 26% in 2011

E-commerce is booming in Brazil. Supported by a growing middle class, Brazil’s e-commerce total revenue for 2011 was over $11 billion; that’s an increase of 26% compared to 2010 ($8.4 bn). In total, 32 million consumers in Brazil bought at least once via the web in 2011, and the eCommerce market is estimated to be worth around $12.7 billion this year.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ricardogeromel/2012/03/23/brazils-e-commerce-is-booming-record-breaking-figures-in-2011-growth-of-26-earnings-of-11-bi/

So what do Brazilians buy online? The most popular categories reflect the needs of Brazil’s new middle class:

Home appliances (13%)
IT (12%)
Health/beauty/drugs (11%)
Books and magazine subscriptions (8%)
Electronics (6%)

Online shopping is also popular with people in the lower income bracket, however – as Western shoppers already know, the internet is where the best bargains and deals can often be found. Daily deals websites are very popular in Brazil, and social commerce could very soon become another interesting trend.

Despite this steady growth, many Brazilians still avoid shopping on the internet out of concern about the security of online transactions. The same goes for Internet banking. 26% of Brazilians don’t use online banking, according to a recent survey, and 58% gave the reason that it felt unsafe. The next few years should see a shift in this perception, as banks and etailers work together to improve security and ease of use, and consumers become more familiar with ecommerce and online banking.

Meanwhile, Brazil has developed solutions to overcome these obstacles. One of them is the boleto bancario, a small slip like a proforma invoice that customers can print out and pay at a bank. This is a very common option, which helps to solve the problem that most Brazilians don’t have a credit card. In fact, 55% of the population still receive their salaries in cash, especially those in manual jobs such as housekeeping and construction workers.

All in all, this adds up to a market with huge potential for those companies willing to adapt and make the necessary concessions to make Brazilian consumers feel at ease.

To find out how to launch your website in Brazil and other overseas markets, contact Web-Translations: sales[at]web-translations.co.uk / +44 (0) 113 8150460.

Meet the team: Malcolm South

Hi, I’m Malcolm! I’m 23 and I’ve just started work at Web-Translations as a Project Coordinator. I was born in Leeds and grew up here before going to the University of Nottingham for a degree in Hispanic Studies.

On my year abroad as part of my degree I studied in Santa Maria, Brazil and Granada, Spain. I really enjoyed it and found the time to discover Argentina, Uruguay and Chile as well. I speak Spanish and Portuguese and I’m learning French in an evening class at Leeds Met.

Before working here I worked as a waiter – you’d be surprised how much you can learn about communication that way! I also worked as a personal Spanish tutor.

I enjoy learning about other languages and cultures, listening to music (especially live!) and caving.

I love the challenge of working at Web-Translations and it feel great to know that I’m playing my part in helping people communicate across the world.

I look forward to working with you if I haven’t already!

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You can read Malcolm’s first Web-Translations blog post here: http://blog.web-translations.com/2011/01/what-makes-wordreferencecom-so-good/