At present, Latin America’s share of global B2C E-Commerce sales is among the smallest worldwide, but its countries exude immense potential for future development, with the region expected to boost an overall double-digit growth rate in the near future. Some of the main factors favorable to the increase in online sales include rising Internet and online shopper penetration, wider adoption of mobile devices and increased access to financial services.

Perhaps the clearest overarching trend in B2C E-Commerce is the importance of mobile devices. It is expected that M-Commerce will account for a growing share of E-Commerce transactions in Brazil, approaching nearly one third this year, while in Argentina it might have already crossed that threshold. In Mexico mobile devices attracted shoppers due to their convenience and ability to save time, while in Colombia mobile phones and tablets were the only device types whose use for Internet access increased in 2014. Also in Peru and Chile, rising device ownership leads to an increasingly favorable environment for M-Commerce development.

This potential is widely recognized by E-Commerce associations in the region, which have shown multiple examples for the successful fostering of online shopping through special events.  For instance, more than half of the traffic during one of Peru’s CyberDay sales stemmed from mobile devices, while during last year’s CyberMonday in Chile the share of mobile visits increased by over 10 percentage points compared to the previous year. The Argentinian Chamber of Electronic Commerce even introduced a specialized mobile platform for its version of CyberMonday in 2015, leading to increasing mobile visits and sales.

Together with the continuous improvement in Internet access, the rise in mobile shopping is likely to further boost overall E-Commerce across Latin America. More details about other online shopping trends and market developments in the countries of the region can be found in our new report “Latin American B2C E-Commerce Market”.