- The major part of e-commerce sales was on VAT-free day;
- The first weeks of lockdown made the number of transactions grow 40%.
E-commerce is perhaps the most benefited sector by the lockdowns to prevent the spread of the COVID-19. In Colombia, since the beginning of the quarantine, in late March, until July 3, e-commerce had a weekly growth of 7.84%, according to figures from the Colombian Chamber of Electronic Commerce, reported La República.
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The categories that increased their sales the most between June and July were home, technology, retail, fashion, and beauty. The major part of sales took place in the VAT (Value-Added Tax)- free day. Jaime Ramírez, Mercado Libre’s manager in Colombia, stated that a VAT-free day represents seven times that of a normal day in sales.
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María Fernanda Quiñones, executive president of the Colombian Chamber of Electronic Commerce stated that “growth has been influenced by the closure of the physical stores and the announcement by the government that e-commerce was going to be the channel to supply Colombian homes.” According to her, the first weeks of quarantine saw a weekly growth of almost 12% in sales and made the number of transactions grow 40%.
