Overview of Latin American e-commerce platforms: from MercadoLibre to Buscape

Compared with emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, India, and the Middle East, there are relatively few e-commerce platforms in Latin America. Despite this, there are still some representative e-commerce platforms in Latin America, such as MercadoLibre, B2W, Buscape, etc. This article will introduce in detail the characteristics of these platforms and their position in the Latin American e-commerce market.

1. MercadoLibre

MercadoLibre is the largest e-commerce platform in Latin America, with more than 150 million views per month, and its services cover 16 countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Chile. MercadoLibre is not only an online shopping platform, but also provides mobile point-of-sale terminal (POS) transactions and allows users to store cash through its online payment tool MercadoPago. MercadoLibre’s market share in Latin America exceeds that of eBay and Amazon, with 160 million users, equivalent to 50% of Internet users in Latin America. MercadoLibre’s influence has made it a rising e-commerce giant.

2. B2W

B2W is one of the largest e-commerce companies in Brazil. By merging multiple local e-commerce websites, B2W’s three major platforms, Americanas, Submarino and Shoptime, have become iconic platforms in the Brazilian e-commerce industry, occupying the largest online market in Brazil. More than 50% market share in retail industry.

3. Americanas

Americanas is a comprehensive shopping e-commerce website in Brazil, offering nearly 500,000 products for consumers to choose from, with 10 million registered customers and more than 200,000 B2C and B2B sellers. Its parent company, Lojas Americanas, was founded in 1929 and has many offline retail stores in Brazil. In 2019, Americanas launched the international station Americanas Mundo, allowing Chinese sellers to enter.

4. Linio

Founded in 2012, Linio is one of the important B2C e-commerce platforms in Latin America. Its business covers Mexico, Colombia, Peru and other countries, covering a population of approximately 350 million. Linio attracts 35 million visits per month, has 27,000 sellers, product categories cover 60 categories, and the number of SKUs exceeds 6 million.

5. Buscape

Buscape is a well-known price comparison website in Brazil. It was established in 1999 and provides price information on more than 100 websites in Latin America. Sellers can display products on Buscape, and customers can make transactions by comparing prices. Buscape’s main sources of income include annual seller fees, advertising fees, pay-per-click and transaction commissions. In 2006, Buscape acquired rival Bondfaro; in 2009, Naspers acquired 91% of Buscape’s shares.

The above is an introduction to some e-commerce platforms in Latin America. For Chinese sellers who want to enter the Latin American market, platforms such as MercadoLibre and Linio are good choices; for those who want to focus on the Brazilian market, you can consider B2W; if you want to operate specific categories of goods, Dafiti Might be more suitable.