Chile is an economic powerhouse in South America. The combination of rapid development of technological infrastructure, a pro-business political environment and high Internet penetration has made Chile’s e-commerce market stand out from its strong competitors.
Chile has always been a country with a high level of economic development in South America, and is also China’s third largest trading partner in Latin America. China is Chile’s largest trading partner in the world and the largest source of imports. In 2005, China and Chile signed a free trade agreement, and 90% of products achieved zero tariffs. In 2005, the bilateral trade volume between China and Chile was US$8 billion, and in 2015 it reached US$31.8 billion.
Chile’s B2C platform has grown very fast. Many traditional manufacturing companies in Chile, such as those in the shoe, clothing, and daily necessities industries, are transforming to online, which has promoted the development of B2C platforms. In recent years, Chile has been building an e-commerce network, leading the way in Latin American countries. In the past five years, Chile’s annual natural growth rate of e-commerce sales has been around 20%.
1. Continuously growing e-commerce transaction volume
Compared with the two huge markets of Brazil and Mexico, Chile has a population of only 18.73 million, accounting for only 2% of the population in Latin America, but its e-commerce share accounts for 9% of the Latin American e-commerce market. In 2018, Chile’s total e-commerce sales reached US$2 billion, an increase of 20% over 2016.
2. The government has long encouraged Internet entrepreneurship
In Chile, about 80% of people have access to the Internet, 40% choose to shop online, and 45% have smartphones, but only 15% to 20% shop online through their mobile phones. Interestingly, in order to encourage everyone to shop actively, the Chilean government has set up a “Network Day” every May since 2014, and major e-commerce platforms have jointly launched discounts, which is quite similar to the domestic “Double Eleven”. Since its establishment, the sales of “Network Day” have been breaking records. Taking the data of “Network Day” in 2017 as an example, sales increased by 24% year-on-year compared with 2016, operating income exceeded US$145 million, and discount websites received a total of 45 million visits.
3. Most online shoppers are young people
As of June 2017, Chile had 15.04 million Internet users, accounting for 80% of the population. According to WeAreSocial, in 2017, the Internet traffic of laptops and desktops in Chile accounted for 56% of the network traffic, a decrease of 16% compared with 2016, while mobile phones accounted for 42%, an increase of 34% over 2016. According to a questionnaire survey conducted by G Research in 2016, about 22% of Chileans shopped online in 2015, of which 62% were through computers, 32% through mobile phones, and 4% through tablets. Young people aged 25 to 34 accounted for 33% of online shoppers. The survey shows that the most purchased goods by Chileans are clothing, followed by home appliances, travel goods, tickets, and furniture.
4. Bank cards are popular
In terms of payment methods, bank cards have been widely popularized in Chile. As of May 2017, the number of credit cards issued in Chile was 12.86 million, and the number of debit cards was 21.31 million. On average, each person held more than one bank card.