On-line Shopping Reaches $770 Million - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Information Superhighways Newsletter, Sept, 2001

On-line shopping in Brazil grew almost 500 percent to US$770 million last year from 1999's $121 million, according to research undertaken by credit card issuer Credicard.

The most popular method of payment was credit cards with 74 percent of sales, totaling $570 million, while bank account debits generated 20 percent of on-line purchases, said Credicard e-corporate director Claudio Vilela.

E-commerce ranked seventh in Brazil as most visited site category, falling behind search engines and portals, according to Credicard research.

Growing computer sales and improved telecoms infrastructure are expected to increase by 30 percent this year the total number of Brazilian on-line shoppers, who currently number 1.6 million. Last year Internet users grew 20 percent to 9.8 million.

Meanwhile in the US on-line purchases reached $161 billion in 2000 compared to Latin America's year-end total of $1.1 billion, of which Brazil represents 70 percent. By the end of 2000 US Internet users totaled 154 million.

User profile research showed that 57 percent of Brazilian Internet surfers are males aged 25-49, while men generate 60 percent of on-line shopping. E-commerce sales are expected to increase as more women go on-line.