A growth of between 20% to 40% is expected compared to what was registered in 2020, which closed with $ 2.3 billion, 44% more than in 2019
A collection of action figures and a video game for Playstation 4 were the gifts that Eduardo Jara gave his children, ages 12 and 16, this Christmas. To acquire them, he opted for the same channel that he used for Christmas 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, the online.
“Although you can go out and there are no restrictions, I still prefer to make my purchases through networks such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram,” said the 42-year-old economist.
This trend, which in Ecuador had its peak in 2020 with a growth of 43,75 % and sales for about $ 2.3 billion; in 2021 it has grown at the level of maturity, as explained Leonardo Ottati, general director of the Ecuadorian Chamber of Electronic Commerce (CECE).
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“We are in a state of increasing maturity, there are neighboring countries that have a greater maturity, they are also larger markets. Colombia definitely has a very interesting maturity in electronic commerce, Peru also …, but each of the countries has to improve in many things, “said Ottati, who assured that in the case of Ecuador the pending task is to improve connectivity , that is of better quality and better prices so that it is available to more users.
However, Ottati assured that Ecuador will close 2021 with growth, over 2020, of between 20% and 40%, that is, between $ 460 million and $ 920 million more than last year. “If we want to be conservative,” stressed the expert, who analyzed what happened in the last twelve months with electronic commerce in the country.
He indicated that 2020 was a year of great growth, which was maintained in 2021, not with the same acceleration, but Ottati assured that there were many people who gained confidence and began to firmly believe in the channel. onlineboth on the supply side and on the demand side.
He also highlighted the importance that digital channels have gained in companies, noting that on the supply side they understood that the consumer today demands a digital channel.
“It is no longer the company offering its digital channel to its consumers, but rather consumers demanding that companies have a digital channel to satisfy their needs,” said the general director of CECE, who assured that today companies are professionalizing more digitally and in establishing greater resources.
However, he added that management indicators should also be considered in order to measure how their digital channel is evolving and how to make this channel profitable. “One thing is to sell without profitability and another thing is to sell being profitable, we firmly seek that the digital channel is also a profitable channel for the company,” said Ottati.
The generation and use of the indicators referred to by Ottati are a common trend in large organizations.
One of them is Prati Warehouse, which thanks to this rise in figures established that during 2021 it has had more than 83,000 online shopping transactions, and will close the year with approximately 13 million visits and an exponential growth of 28% compared to 2020, revealed Jessica Dávila, vice president of E-commerce and Logistics of the company.
Business trends and technological changes in the new reality
Currently, virtual purchases represent more than 5% of the total sales of De Prati, which started its virtual channel 14 years ago, which makes it a pioneer in e-commerce in the country.
Dávila recalled that in 2020 growth was also in double digits, registering more than 50,000 online shopping transactions, with approximately 12 million visits on the web and a growth of 11% compared to 2019.
“During the pandemic, De Prati registered the most significant change in visits and during this period women accounted for 73% and men for 27% of visits to the store,” said the directive, who pointed out that the categories that had the highest number of transactions in the virtual store, during 2021, are fashion, technology and home, which allowed them to identify the evolution of the consumption trend of their customers.
These indicators, Dávila highlighted, also made it easier for them to know that De Prati registers 55% of organic searches on Google, compared to other stores in the sector retail.
Another important actor who matured with him e-commerce are the payment channels. PaymentezFor example, a platform that allows businesses in Ecuador to receive local payments with debit cards, current or deferred credit cards and prepaid from all banks in the country; bank transfers and cash payments at collection points; registered a 200% growth in the number of transactions and seven times more affiliated businesses in 2021 compared to 2020, it revealed Arturo Campoverde, COO (Director of Operations) of Paymentez Ecuador.
“Undoubtedly, we are at a new level that with well-focused strategies we can continue to grow Ecuador’s digital ecosystem, through digital education means and with offers that provide security to consumers,” said Campoverde, who maintained that it is It is important for people to understand that there are many advantages to making non-face purchases and that the current offer offers many benefits that can be taken advantage of by consumers.
He also pointed out that non-face-to-face market players are also working on offering new and better procedures and technologies so that the user experience is much more agile and easy for everyone.
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The Paymentez executive firmly believes that the migration and adoption of new non-contact users and the increase in purchase frequency (up to five times) of existing customers thanks to the pandemic, must be taken advantage of and establish marketing strategies to retain and maintain them the current figures.
This enters the realm of the expectations of the e-commerce by 2022. In this regard, Ottati assured that what is expected is that the digital channel continues to grow and certain extremely important and clear trends take hold.
“Everything that has to do with this, the data is being the protagonist and must have been the protagonist a long time ago, but it is very clear everything that has to do with augmented reality, virtual reality, with blockchain and cryptocurrencies, the issues of identity digitization, there are all trends that obviously make the ecosystem continue to grow and grow and that digital adoption has a preference when making a decision ”, Ottati analyzed.
Dávila, for his part, announced that by 2022 De Prati’s strategy will be to reinforce omnichannel, through constant innovation applied to both stores and the virtual channel, in order to articulate a shopping experience that combines the virtual with the face-to-face. (I)
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