The online shopping continue to grow as an alternative to traditional transactions in Uruguay, and more and more people prefer to shop online rather than in person at retail stores. This trend could be seen in the 22% growth in online purchases during 2023 compared to what happened in 2022.
The Chamber of Digital Economy of Uruguay (CEDU) and the consultant Factum They presented the report of Electronic Commerce Indicators in Uruguayan Companieswhich recorded the outlook and performance of this ever-expanding sector over the past year.
In this regard, the most notable data was the 22% year-on-year increase in online purchases, a figure that increases to 27% in stores associated with CEDU. According to the report, these results reflect a greater “digital maturity” by companies, in the sense that more and more businesses use the online channels to market their products and boost their sales.
The greater presence of online purchases in the balance sheets of companies also led to seven out of ten businesses consulted in the CEDU and Factum report stating that they had a sector of eCommerce with around 24% of the total staff employed dedicated to this.
What were the most commonly used sales channels and payment methods?
The study also identified which sales channels were most used by companies, an ecosystem that is increasingly broad and more widely used and complex by sellers, compared to a presence on multiple channels at the same time.
In this sense, in 2023, 96% of companies had a website own and had a presence on social networks. Instagram was the network with the most sellers (75%), followed by Facebook with 68% and WhatsApp with 65%; although TikTok recorded a 23% increase in sales compared to 2022 (26%). Meanwhile, only 36% of companies had websites marketplace.
As for the payment methods Shopper favorites, 75% paid for transactions digitally, while 23% did so in person.
Among the digital alternatives, the most used was the credit card with a 45% share, followed by the Bank transfers with 16% and the Debit online with 10%.
Among other data highlighted in the report, there is the 6% growth in online purchases made through mobile devices —60% of all online purchases—; and the 10% increase in the Online billing originating in the interior of the country, thus reaching 40%.
Source: Ambito
