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Selling online from North America to Latin America

A grow­ing number of U.S. online retailers and consumer brand manufacturers are taking that challenge on by setting up shop and selling online in Latin America.

It wasn’t quite the same as graduating from the e-commerce school of hard knocks, but after six years of trial and error Tradercom USA Inc. has learned some valuable lessons about what works—and what doesn’t—in selling online in Latin America.

In 2006, Tradercom CEO Federico Torres set out to build an online retailing business in Latin America from a base in the U.S. To carve out a niche in Latin America’s growing business-to-consumer e-commerce market, which eMarketer estimates will grow about 110% from $29.70 billion in 2011 to $62.42 billion in 2016, Tradercom had ambitious plans to build a web store in multiple countries and offer steep discounts on well-known American products such as Fossil watches and Weber grills that are not always available through merchants in Latin America.

Latin America E-Commerce - Selling Online to Latin America

Latin America E-Commerce – Selling Online to Latin America

But selling online in a foreign country is never easy, especially in Latin America, a fast-growing and still-developing e-commerce arena where U.S. merchants face several substantial barriers to entry, including big tariffs and government red tape, sketchy local delivery options, and plenty of cultural differences. “There is a huge opportunity for U.S. web merchants such as us to develop a significant e-commerce business in Latin America, but there are significant challenges that we had to work our way through.” Torres says. “It took us a long time, lots of patience and a willingness to always try a new approach to build up a steady base of shoppers.”

Today Tradercom is an estab­lished and growing online retailing company. The e-retailer carries a web inventory of about 100,000 SKUs and sells online in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. Sales for the web-only retailer are on track to reach $8 million in 2012, double its 2011 sales.

Tradercom is one of a grow­ing number of U.S. online retailers and consumer brand manufacturers setting up shop and selling online in Latin America. The market already includes 25 U.S. companies ranked in the Top 300 Latin America, which in 2011 had combined web sales of $1.43 billion, up 32.4% from $1.08 billion in the prior year.

And more North American online retailers are seriously eyeing Latin America for a new interna­tional opportunity or expanding their existing base of operations. For example Apple Inc. (No. 11), which has been selling computer hardware online in Latin America for several years, in December 2011 launched an iTunes store with a catalog of 20 million song titles for Brazil and 15 other countries in Latin America.

Consumers in Latin America also are big fans of mobile commerce and social media, and looking to conve­niently shop online for the products they can’t find in local stores, says Kent Allen, principal and founder of The Research Trust, a San Francisco-based e-commerce and retailing industry research firm with clients in the U.S. and Latin America. “There’s only a handful of global e-commerce markets left where there are still lots of ground-floor opportunities to be the next category-killer web store, hot niche player or even the next Amazon, and that’s Latin America,” Allen says. “E-commerce in Brazil, Mexico and other parts of the region are still in an early growth stage and that’s attracting the attention of lots of U.S. merchants.”

Source: Internet Retailer

#wordsofwisdom

#wordsofwisdom

Females More Likely Than Males to Buy Online in Latin America

Consumers in Brazil and Argentina Most Likely to Make Purchases Online, Females More Likely Than Males to Buy Online in Latin America

comScore, Inc. released results from a study of the e-commerce landscape in Latin America. The study, which surveyed nearly 800 respondents, looked at e-commerce activity across Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru as well as online banking behaviors, mobile activity and Twitter usage. The study found that although the majority of visitors to e-commerce sites in Latin America make purchases online, retailers still face obstacles in converting many consumers to online shoppers due to concerns over transaction security, availability of payment options and the selection of goods available online. The results of the study were also presented to the Latin America E-Commerce Association event held in Bogota on December 1.

Consumers in Brazil and Argentina Most Likely to Make Purchases Online, Females More Likely Than Males to Buy Online in Latin America

Consumers in Brazil and Argentina Most Likely to Make Purchases Online, Females More Likely Than Males to Buy Online in Latin America

“Relative to other global regions, the e-commerce industry in Latin America is still in its infancy, but consumers are showing encouraging signs of adopting the channel,” said Alejandro Fosk, senior vice president of Latin America for comScore. “With 3 out of 5 Internet users in Latin America visiting retail sites each month, it is clear that consumers are interested in online shopping. In order to convert these browsers to buyers, retailers need to address consumers’ concerns about purchasing online in order to help the e-commerce industry develop to its full potential in this region.”

E-Commerce Site Visitors in Brazil Most Likely to Make Purchase

Among those who visited e-commerce sites in Latin America, 79 percent of males reported making an online purchase, while 88 percent of females reported doing so. Across the markets included in the survey, Brazil showed the highest percentage conversion of online e-commerce site visitors to purchasers with 94 percent of visitors in Brazil making an online purchase. Argentina followed at 89 percent, with 84 percent of e-commerce site visitors in Colombia doing so.

Question: Do you make purchase online, in addition to your offline purchases? (Of those that visit e-commerce websites)October and November 2010Source: comScore, Inc.

Percent E-commerce SiteVisitors that MadePurchases Online
Latin America by Gender
Males – Latin America79%
Females – Latin America88%
Country
Brazil94%
Argentina89%
Colombia84%
Mexico82%
Chile71%
Peru63%

Security Reasons the Main Concern for Prospective Online Shoppers

Of those that did not purchase online, security ranked as the main concern among prospective shoppers. Specifically, 68 percent of females listed security concerns as a reason why they do not make purchases online, with 48 percent of males reporting this as a reason. Preferring to shop in person rather than online was also a main deterrent to online shopping, with 38 percent of males and 32 percent of females reporting this as a reason. Consumers also reported that type of payment options offered hindered their adoption of online purchasing (35 percent of males, 32 percent of females) as well as shipping costs (30 percent of males, 42 percent of females).

Question: Why do you not make purchases online? (Of those respondents that did not make purchases online) October and November 2010 Source: comScore, Inc.  (Percent of Latin AmericanConsumers )

Reason for Not Purchasing OnlineMalesFemales
Security reasons48%68%
Prefer shopping in person rather than online38%32%
The type of payment options offered35%32%
Shipping costs30%42%
Not as good of a selection online as offline13%5%

3 out of 4 Online Shoppers in Argentina Prefer to Make Purchases at Local Websites

An analysis of consumer preferences regarding purchasing at international versus local e-commerce websites revealed that consumers in Argentina have the strongest preference to shop at local websites with 3 out of 4 consumers preferring this option. More than half of consumers in Brazil and Colombia also preferred shopping at local websites, while slightly more than half of consumers in Mexico, Chile and Peru preferred international websites for online shopping.

Question: If given one option, would you prefer to shop on International or Local Websites? (Of those respondents that make purchases online) October and November 2010 Source: comScore, Inc. (% of Consumers)

Local WebsitesInternational Websites
Brazil58%42%
Mexico49%52%
Argentina76%24%
Chile49%51%
Colombia55%45%
Peru48%52%

Mr. Fosk added, “Across most markets, consumers show little preference for shopping at international versus local e-commerce Websites, revealing that this differentiation is of minor consideration in consumers’ online buying decisions. Both local and international retailers have the opportunity to penetrate the Latin America region.”

i have a feeling that my guardian angel

i have a feeling that my guardian angel

SOURCE comScore, Inc.

Spanish-language TV network Univision says ¡hola! to e-commerce

Univision Communications Inc., operator of the major Spanish-language television network Univision, has announced plans to launch an e-commerce site selling items related to its shows in a deal with Delivery Agent Inc.

Delivery Agent also announced last week an expanded relationship with Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising to create a new e-commerce site, www.foxshop.com, that will sell products seen on or related to TV shows on the Fox network and sister network FX. The products will be available immediately after shows air on TV or online. Previously, Delivery Agent had been providing e-commerce services tied to some Fox shows and movies.

With the Univision deal, Delivery Agent links up with the fifth most-watched TV network, according to Nielsen Media Research, after CBS, Fox, NBC and ABC. Delivery Agent already operates e-commerce sites for ABC, CBS and NBC, selling such items as DVDs and T-shirts, at ABCtvstore.com, CBSstore.com and NBCuniversal.com.

“We are thrilled to partner with Delivery Agent, a first-class provider of e-commerce solutions,” says Ted Zagat, vice president of franchise development and strategic partnerships at Univision. “We look forward to building Univision’s first ever branded e-commerce platform which will enable us to deliver Univision-inspired products to our loyal audiences.”

Delivery Agent will host and manage the Univision.com online store, which is expected to go live in the fall. The site, which will be in Spanish, will heavily promote merchandise tied to the 2010 soccer World Cup tournament, says Mike Fitzsimmons, CEO of Delivery Agent. It will also enable loyal followers of Univision’s telenovelas, or soap operas, to buy merchandise seen on those shows.

“If you see a necklace in the show you’ll be able to purchase it through the store,” Fitzsimmons says. “They’re the fastest-growing television network in the U.S. and we believe an underserved audience from an e-commerce perspective. There are not a lot of great e-commerce sites targeting the U.S. Hispanic audience, and tying in with the content and reach of Univision and their incredibly loyal customer base we think is a pretty significant opportunity.” Univision averaged 3.4 million viewers during prime time for the last week in May, Nielsen says.

The Fox and Univision announcements are the latest in a string of TV-related deals announced by Delivery Agent. Discovery Communications, which operates the Discovery Channel and other cable networks, announced in March it was outsourcing its e-commerce operations to Delivery Agent. Discovery Channel Store Inc. is No. 191 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.

Social Media investment in the U.S. is being led by Facebook
New Site to Serve Community of Latina Mothers across the U.S.
quote of the day

quote of the day

Source: Internet Retailer

Selling online from North America to Latin America

A grow­ing number of U.S. online retailers and consumer brand manufacturers are taking that challenge on by setting up shop and selling online in Latin America.

It wasn’t quite the same as graduating from the e-commerce school of hard knocks, but after six years of trial and error Tradercom USA Inc. has learned some valuable lessons about what works—and what doesn’t—in selling online in Latin America.

In 2006, Tradercom CEO Federico Torres set out to build an online retailing business in Latin America from a base in the U.S. To carve out a niche in Latin America’s growing business-to-consumer e-commerce market, which eMarketer estimates will grow about 110% from $29.70 billion in 2011 to $62.42 billion in 2016, Tradercom had ambitious plans to build a web store in multiple countries and offer steep discounts on well-known American products such as Fossil watches and Weber grills that are not always available through merchants in Latin America.

Latin America E-Commerce - Selling Online to Latin America

Latin America E-Commerce – Selling Online to Latin America

But selling online in a foreign country is never easy, especially in Latin America, a fast-growing and still-developing e-commerce arena where U.S. merchants face several substantial barriers to entry, including big tariffs and government red tape, sketchy local delivery options, and plenty of cultural differences. “There is a huge opportunity for U.S. web merchants such as us to develop a significant e-commerce business in Latin America, but there are significant challenges that we had to work our way through.” Torres says. “It took us a long time, lots of patience and a willingness to always try a new approach to build up a steady base of shoppers.”

Today Tradercom is an estab­lished and growing online retailing company. The e-retailer carries a web inventory of about 100,000 SKUs and sells online in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. Sales for the web-only retailer are on track to reach $8 million in 2012, double its 2011 sales.

Tradercom is one of a grow­ing number of U.S. online retailers and consumer brand manufacturers setting up shop and selling online in Latin America. The market already includes 25 U.S. companies ranked in the Top 300 Latin America, which in 2011 had combined web sales of $1.43 billion, up 32.4% from $1.08 billion in the prior year.

And more North American online retailers are seriously eyeing Latin America for a new interna­tional opportunity or expanding their existing base of operations. For example Apple Inc. (No. 11), which has been selling computer hardware online in Latin America for several years, in December 2011 launched an iTunes store with a catalog of 20 million song titles for Brazil and 15 other countries in Latin America.

Consumers in Latin America also are big fans of mobile commerce and social media, and looking to conve­niently shop online for the products they can’t find in local stores, says Kent Allen, principal and founder of The Research Trust, a San Francisco-based e-commerce and retailing industry research firm with clients in the U.S. and Latin America. “There’s only a handful of global e-commerce markets left where there are still lots of ground-floor opportunities to be the next category-killer web store, hot niche player or even the next Amazon, and that’s Latin America,” Allen says. “E-commerce in Brazil, Mexico and other parts of the region are still in an early growth stage and that’s attracting the attention of lots of U.S. merchants.”

Source: Internet Retailer

#wordsofwisdom

#wordsofwisdom

Females More Likely Than Males to Buy Online in Latin America

Consumers in Brazil and Argentina Most Likely to Make Purchases Online, Females More Likely Than Males to Buy Online in Latin America

comScore, Inc. released results from a study of the e-commerce landscape in Latin America. The study, which surveyed nearly 800 respondents, looked at e-commerce activity across Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru as well as online banking behaviors, mobile activity and Twitter usage. The study found that although the majority of visitors to e-commerce sites in Latin America make purchases online, retailers still face obstacles in converting many consumers to online shoppers due to concerns over transaction security, availability of payment options and the selection of goods available online. The results of the study were also presented to the Latin America E-Commerce Association event held in Bogota on December 1.

Consumers in Brazil and Argentina Most Likely to Make Purchases Online, Females More Likely Than Males to Buy Online in Latin America

Consumers in Brazil and Argentina Most Likely to Make Purchases Online, Females More Likely Than Males to Buy Online in Latin America

“Relative to other global regions, the e-commerce industry in Latin America is still in its infancy, but consumers are showing encouraging signs of adopting the channel,” said Alejandro Fosk, senior vice president of Latin America for comScore. “With 3 out of 5 Internet users in Latin America visiting retail sites each month, it is clear that consumers are interested in online shopping. In order to convert these browsers to buyers, retailers need to address consumers’ concerns about purchasing online in order to help the e-commerce industry develop to its full potential in this region.”

E-Commerce Site Visitors in Brazil Most Likely to Make Purchase

Among those who visited e-commerce sites in Latin America, 79 percent of males reported making an online purchase, while 88 percent of females reported doing so. Across the markets included in the survey, Brazil showed the highest percentage conversion of online e-commerce site visitors to purchasers with 94 percent of visitors in Brazil making an online purchase. Argentina followed at 89 percent, with 84 percent of e-commerce site visitors in Colombia doing so.

Question: Do you make purchase online, in addition to your offline purchases? (Of those that visit e-commerce websites)October and November 2010Source: comScore, Inc.

Percent E-commerce SiteVisitors that MadePurchases Online
Latin America by Gender
Males – Latin America79%
Females – Latin America88%
Country
Brazil94%
Argentina89%
Colombia84%
Mexico82%
Chile71%
Peru63%

Security Reasons the Main Concern for Prospective Online Shoppers

Of those that did not purchase online, security ranked as the main concern among prospective shoppers. Specifically, 68 percent of females listed security concerns as a reason why they do not make purchases online, with 48 percent of males reporting this as a reason. Preferring to shop in person rather than online was also a main deterrent to online shopping, with 38 percent of males and 32 percent of females reporting this as a reason. Consumers also reported that type of payment options offered hindered their adoption of online purchasing (35 percent of males, 32 percent of females) as well as shipping costs (30 percent of males, 42 percent of females).

Question: Why do you not make purchases online? (Of those respondents that did not make purchases online) October and November 2010 Source: comScore, Inc.  (Percent of Latin AmericanConsumers )

Reason for Not Purchasing OnlineMalesFemales
Security reasons48%68%
Prefer shopping in person rather than online38%32%
The type of payment options offered35%32%
Shipping costs30%42%
Not as good of a selection online as offline13%5%

3 out of 4 Online Shoppers in Argentina Prefer to Make Purchases at Local Websites

An analysis of consumer preferences regarding purchasing at international versus local e-commerce websites revealed that consumers in Argentina have the strongest preference to shop at local websites with 3 out of 4 consumers preferring this option. More than half of consumers in Brazil and Colombia also preferred shopping at local websites, while slightly more than half of consumers in Mexico, Chile and Peru preferred international websites for online shopping.

Question: If given one option, would you prefer to shop on International or Local Websites? (Of those respondents that make purchases online) October and November 2010 Source: comScore, Inc. (% of Consumers)

Local WebsitesInternational Websites
Brazil58%42%
Mexico49%52%
Argentina76%24%
Chile49%51%
Colombia55%45%
Peru48%52%

Mr. Fosk added, “Across most markets, consumers show little preference for shopping at international versus local e-commerce Websites, revealing that this differentiation is of minor consideration in consumers’ online buying decisions. Both local and international retailers have the opportunity to penetrate the Latin America region.”

i have a feeling that my guardian angel

i have a feeling that my guardian angel

SOURCE comScore, Inc.

Spanish-language TV network Univision says ¡hola! to e-commerce

Univision Communications Inc., operator of the major Spanish-language television network Univision, has announced plans to launch an e-commerce site selling items related to its shows in a deal with Delivery Agent Inc.

Delivery Agent also announced last week an expanded relationship with Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising to create a new e-commerce site, www.foxshop.com, that will sell products seen on or related to TV shows on the Fox network and sister network FX. The products will be available immediately after shows air on TV or online. Previously, Delivery Agent had been providing e-commerce services tied to some Fox shows and movies.

With the Univision deal, Delivery Agent links up with the fifth most-watched TV network, according to Nielsen Media Research, after CBS, Fox, NBC and ABC. Delivery Agent already operates e-commerce sites for ABC, CBS and NBC, selling such items as DVDs and T-shirts, at ABCtvstore.com, CBSstore.com and NBCuniversal.com.

“We are thrilled to partner with Delivery Agent, a first-class provider of e-commerce solutions,” says Ted Zagat, vice president of franchise development and strategic partnerships at Univision. “We look forward to building Univision’s first ever branded e-commerce platform which will enable us to deliver Univision-inspired products to our loyal audiences.”

Delivery Agent will host and manage the Univision.com online store, which is expected to go live in the fall. The site, which will be in Spanish, will heavily promote merchandise tied to the 2010 soccer World Cup tournament, says Mike Fitzsimmons, CEO of Delivery Agent. It will also enable loyal followers of Univision’s telenovelas, or soap operas, to buy merchandise seen on those shows.

“If you see a necklace in the show you’ll be able to purchase it through the store,” Fitzsimmons says. “They’re the fastest-growing television network in the U.S. and we believe an underserved audience from an e-commerce perspective. There are not a lot of great e-commerce sites targeting the U.S. Hispanic audience, and tying in with the content and reach of Univision and their incredibly loyal customer base we think is a pretty significant opportunity.” Univision averaged 3.4 million viewers during prime time for the last week in May, Nielsen says.

The Fox and Univision announcements are the latest in a string of TV-related deals announced by Delivery Agent. Discovery Communications, which operates the Discovery Channel and other cable networks, announced in March it was outsourcing its e-commerce operations to Delivery Agent. Discovery Channel Store Inc. is No. 191 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.

Social Media investment in the U.S. is being led by Facebook
New Site to Serve Community of Latina Mothers across the U.S.
quote of the day

quote of the day

Source: Internet Retailer