The e-commerce industry has undoubtedly revolutionized the traditional retail segment, with online sales consistently growing in share everywhere. Thanks to the wide use of mobile devices around the globe, the e-commerce industry and the way people connect to the internet are also being transformed. With the growing use of smartphones, each day more and more people have internet access, which has been imparting changes to consumers’ browsing and shopping behavior. In Brazil, the scenario is no different. Although most online purchases in the country are still completed on desktop, m-commerce is growing quickly, reflecting the importance of considering mobile devices for a successful e-commerce strategy.
Mobile Devices in the Brazilian E-commerce Market
The study E-commerce Radar, by Atlas, identified that mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) were responsible for 31% of e-commerce sales in Brazil in H1 2017. This represents a significant growth when taking into account that less than 22% of the online sales were made on mobile in 2016 and only 12% in 2015. It is also worth highlighting that, according to Fundação Getúlio Vargas de São Paulo (FGV-SP), currently there are 198 million smartphones in Brazil, an increase of 17% in comparison to last year. FGV-SP predicts that by the end of this year there will be one smartphone per person in the country, reaching a total of 208 million smartphones.
Sales conversion is still relatively low on mobile devices as opposed to desktop. The main reason for this is that many websites are still not fully responsive, making it difficult to browse on a mobile screen. Furthermore, popular payment methods, such as boleto bancário, are often not adapted to mobile screens. For that reason, PagBrasil has made its Boleto Flash® and Boleto Express responsive, allowing e-commerce businesses to offer a better payment experience on mobile for consumers who want to pay with boleto.
The product categories with better conversion rates on mobile will convert up to 1.3% (lingerie and sex shop) of the sales. While desktop can have conversion rates of up to 4.9% (food and beverage), 3.4% (pharmacy) and 2.1% (home and decoration).
As for the number of transactions, mobile devices are responsible for 43% of the sales of beauty products, 41% of fashion and accessories and 31% of health and wellness. On the other hand, higher value product categories, such as electronics and appliances, have more transactions from desktop (86%).
Another interesting highlight of the study refers to the sales source. Out of the sales originated from direct traffic, 39% were made on mobile devices. 48% of the sales coming from organic Facebook reach were also made on smartphones and tablets and 61% of sales that have Facebook Ads as the source were completed on mobile.
Regarding Brazilian consumers’ behavior when it comes to mobile devices and internet access, Euromonitor identified that nearly 75% of Brazilians feel lost without internet and 21% carry out at least four out of these seven commerce related activities on their smartphones weekly:
• Buy an item or service
• Compare prices while in store
• Make an in-person mobile payment
• Order food and drink online for takeaway or home delivery
• Order or book a ride-sharing service
• Read reviews
• Use a banking service
The potential of strategies focused on mobile devices for the Brazilian e-commerce market is undeniable. Not only it is essential to have a responsive website or efficient mobile app, but offering buyers a seamless payment experience through payment methods adapted for mobile devices, such as responsive boleto and one-click payment, is a must. If you have not specifically designed your m-commerce strategy yet, it is definitely time to do so to enjoy the great growth opportunity of the m-commerce segment in Brazil.
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[…] in Brazil carry out their online purchases on mobile devices. In H1 2017, such devices were responsible for 31% of e-commerce sales in the country. During last Black Friday, the m-commmerce segment generated 26.5% of the total […]