Brazilian buys less electronics and more food online

There are more and more people shopping on the internet and e-commerce revenues are growing in Brazil – but at an increasingly slower pace. This is what data from the Webshoppers 46 survey, prepared by the consultancy NielsenIQ|Ebit, in partnership with the digital payment broker Bexs Pay, show, anticipated for the Sheet.

According to the survey, online sales in Brazil in the first half of the year totaled R$ 118.6 billion, up 6% over the same period last year, in nominal terms. In the first half of 2021, however, the increase had been 47% over the same range of 2020.

In all, 49.8 million Brazilians made online purchases in the first half of the year, an increase of 18% in the annual comparison. The average ticket, however, dropped 8% to R$412.

The data only consider purchases on Brazilian sites. The account does not include addresses that NielsenIQ|Ebit classifies as foreign (cross border): Shopee, Alibaba, Amazon USA, among others.

Giants such as Mercado Livre, Americanas and Magazine Luiza are included in the survey.

More food sales, less electronics

The lowest average ticket in the first half was driven by the increase in food and beverage purchases over the internet. This category, which accounted for 6% of total orders last year, accounted for 12% of online orders, up 128% in the number of orders. The category does not include food delivery.

“Consumers have made more purchases of supplies on the internet, purchasing products such as food, beverages, personal hygiene items, low cost and high turnover”, says the director of ecommerce at NielsenIQ|Ebit, Marcelo Osanai.

On the other hand, there was a drop in the sale of higher value-added categories, such as telephony (18% decrease in the number of orders), electronics (-6%) and home appliances (-1%).

In the opinion of the director general of NielsenIQ in Brazil, Alfredo Costa, this migration is “natural”. “Brazilians are moving away from higher-value products, telephony, electronics, and towards other lower-value products,” he says.

More than half (53.8%) of the total number of orders were placed via smartphone in the first half. The remaining 46.2% were done via desktop. By value, however, desktop orders represent more than mobile orders (52% versus 48%).

In terms of number of requests, women accounted for 56.9% of the total in the period, but in terms of transacted value, they accounted for 45.7%. “The female audience spends less, but buys more items”, says Osanai.

According to the executive, social networks, search engines and typing the name of the store are, in that order, the main drivers of the online shopping journey. In the Babies and Co. category, for example, 31% of the public accessed the store via ads on social networks.

Shopee leads among foreign websites

Although it did not compute the total sales of foreign websites in the survey, NielsenIQ|Ebit pointed out that 54% of Brazilians made purchases on cross-border websites in the first half of 2022. This total represents a decline compared to the same period in 2021, when 68% bought on these portals.

The most searched site is Shopee, with 42% of respondents’ indications. Following are Aliexpress (34%), Amazon USA (31%), Shein (16%) and Wish (7%).

On foreign websites, the most searched categories are Fashion and Accessories (28%) and Electronics (24%).

For Luiz Henrique Didier Jr, president of Bexs Pay, cross border sites tend to increase their representation in Brazilian ecommerce.

“Brazilian consumers’ trust in these sites is expected to grow, with delivery times being significantly reduced, local support, and a wide range of payment methods in Brazil”, he says.