- Latin America is having its e-commerce moment;
- Argentina’s retail e-commerce grew by 79.0% last year.
In 2020, digital buyers embraced e-commerce like never before, boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this scenario, Latin America is having its e-commerce moment. The region led the world in retail e-commerce sales growth in 2020 (36.7%) and was second in digital buyer growth (7.3%).
READ ALSO: A new, more digitally inclusive, Latin America
And Argentina was the country where e-commerce grew the most in 2020, according to the Global Ecommerce Update 2021 by Insider Intelligence and eMarketer.
As Latin America saw abnormally standout growth in e-commerce in 2020, despite suffering worse-than-average declines in overall retail sales (down by 3.4%), the fastest-growing country for e-commerce last year was also in Latin America: Argentina’s retail e-commerce grew by 79.0% last year, a figure approached only by Singapore, notices the report.
Even though Argentina is experiencing a scenario of devalued currency and a shrinking economy, the jump in Argentine e-commerce was almost 80% from 2019 to 2020.
According to the report, the e-commerce growth in Argentina partly attributable to the rise of the regional giant Mercado Libre – an explanation also valid for the report’s second-place since Singapore is the birthplace of Shopee, an e-commerce platform focused on fashion products.
READ ALSO: Mercado Libre: Latin American giant is the region’s main e-commerce player
Latin America is expected to increase its digital buyer penetration among internet users more than any other region in 2021, from 56.5% to 59.4% – that is, a 6.9% growth in this aspect.
The report also forecasts that Latin America will still be among the fastest-growing regions in terms of e-commerce sales (15.9%) this year.
