According to the Santiago Chamber of Commerce (CCS), sales through e-commerce could exceed US$6.5 billion this year. This is how auspicious the outlook for the online market looks, since during this recent Christmas season, sales through the Internet were around 6%, however, among large retailers the figure was between 15% and 20%.
George Lever, director of the CCS Centre for Digital Economy and research manager, estimated that growth will be 30% and that mobile phone commerce is bringing more dynamism to the channel. In addition, high-potential categories such as clothing, footwear and food have increased. As for small businesses, they “show a much more alert and aggressive view of e-commerce.”
He also stated that the main challenges for the consolidation of e-commerce are logistics management, cybersecurity, the widespread use of mobile as a purchasing channel and integration between channels towards omnichannel models.
José Carniglia, a business professor at the University of Chile, predicted that online sales will exceed 10% by 2022 due to the incorporation of new young consumers into the market who have confidence in this purchasing system.
Unfortunately, the other side of the coin is the situation that the retail sector of the Metropolitan Region is experiencing, as in-person sales registered a 2.3% drop in November, accumulating the fifth consecutive decline. This trade, not counting the automotive sector, had weak growth in 2018, due to the lower income of Argentines and weak consumer confidence.
