Brazil News
RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil Leads Latin America in E-commerce, according to a new study published online on Wednesday. Brazilian e-commerce grew 43% between 2010 and 2011, reaching $25 billion dollars – more than half (59.1%) of all online transactions in Latin America.
In second place, far behind Brazil, is Mexico, with only 14.2%. The Caribbean countries come next, with 6.4%, followed by Argentina 6.2%, Chile 3.5%, Venezuela 3.3%, Central America 2.4%, Colombia 2%, Peru 1.4% and 1.5% other countries.
The study, commissioned by Visa, shows Brazil with the highest growth at 43% in one year. Brazil is also the first Latin American country where online sales exceeded 1% of GDP.
The company responsible for the study, AméricaEconomia Intelligence, says that Brazil and Latin America showed significant growth in e-commerce sales in the past two years.
The factors favoring continued growth in Latin American e-commerce include: increased security and confidence when buying online, trading platforms expanding into new channels (such as trade in social networks), government reforms that encourage e-commerce and greater use of electronic payments – such as credit and debit cards.
Internet access is growing rapidly in Brazil, according to a study by the Getúlio Vargas Foundation.
Digital Inclusion in Latin America
Brazil occupies the 63rd place in the ranking of the 154 countries with the most internet access, according to a map of digital inclusion released on Wednesday by the Fundação Getúlio Vargas.
According to the survey, 33% of Brazilian households have access to the global network. The country lags behind neighboring Uruguay (57th) and Chile (53rd), but ahead of Mexico (89th). Brazil also ranks ahead of fellow BRICS countries South Africa (108th) and India (126th).
Researchers pointed out, though, that they used data collected during the 2010 census. They believe that access expanded significantly during the last two years, putting Brazil well above average in internet access worldwide.
