Desktop e-commerce sales in Latin America 2021-2025, by country

Estimates indicate that in 2021, online shopping via desktop computers in Latin America's six largest e-commerce markets generated approximately 55 billion U.S. dollars in revenue. Brazil and Mexico alone accounted for some 18 billion and 15 billion dollars, respectively. Revenues from desktop sales in these countries are forecast to grow by a combined 58 percent to reach 87 billion U.S. dollars by 2025. As for mobile commerce in Latin America, sales in Argentina were forecast to grow by 160% over the same period.

Brazil: desktops prevail, but mobile trends upward

In the largest Portuguese-speaking country, personal computers (PCs) play a major role in internet usage. Desktop devices generated almost half of Brazil's web traffic in 2021. Still, the employment of mobile phones in Brazilian e-shopping is on the rise. B2W Companhia Digital is just one example of an online retail company experiencing increased mobile web traffic. In 2020, smartphones generated 82 percent of traffic to that Rio de Janeiro-based e-tailer's platform.

PCs in Mexico: a billion-dollar segment

Desktops are also key for the use of the internet in Mexico, albeit to a lesser extent than in Brazil. In 2020, 54 percent of the total web traffic generated in that North American country was through desktop computers. The appeal of PCs towards Mexican consumers is highlighted by the year-on-year growth in revenue between 2016 and 2021. The value of the market was projected to reach over 1.55 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2021.