How to expand into Latin American markets
SkyPostal notes that retail ecommerce increased about 20% between 2019 and 2020, reaching more than $86 billion. Over the next two years, ecommerce is expected to grow to at least $116 billion and accounting for nearly 10% of all retail sales.
What’s held many businesses back from investing in Latin American strategy is the shipping issue, with many merchants believing that it is too hard to deliver on fast shipping promises.
“There’s an assumption that Latin America is a prohibitively difficult place to do business. That’s simply not true. It’s complex, but the tools exist to make it manageable,” said A.J. Hernandez, CEO & President, SkyPostal.
Historically, shipping from the USPS have been slower, according to SkyPostal, which is a problem in online shopping. People are willing to wait a few days but a weeks-long wait is undesirable and causes friction between the shopper and the merchant or brand.
Hernandez suggests that the problem isn’t necessarily the USPS but the partners in Latin American that are chosen as hand-offs for merchandise deliveries. He suggests that merchants pay close attention to shipping partner programs and choose wisely.
Meanwhile, according to Statista data mobile commerce is also on the up for Latin American countries, reaching just over $21 billion last year. Black Friday sales grew by more than 300% YoY in Peru, one of the fastest growing markets. That is thanks in part to the number of new shoppers in the area.
According to Statista there are just over 267 million digital buyers, and that number is expected to increase by at least 30% over the next three years as connectivity increases in Latin America.
