With the advent of Covid-19, the way in which consumers in Latin America were acting when making their purchases changed. E-commerce became an essential tool for customers to be able to purchase their products and services in a more secure way.

Each country of latin america took different measures, some more rigorous than others, however all pointed out that the confinement was forcing consumers not to go to hypermarkets and stores to make purchases and even to do without of many items that were common to have at home before the pandemic.

One aspect that stands out in the midst of the health crisis is the way in which technology such as Fintech has turned to solving the problems of these consumers and the same companies that have seen the need to change their sales formats.

This is where e-commerce has evolved, making it easy for each company to make digital tools available to customers so that purchasing processes and payments are more secure and reliable.

What was the pre-pandemic dynamic like?

It must be taken into account that before 2020 consumers were a bit insecure when providing information to payment gateways >or other methods used by the web pages of the shops, a curious aspect due to the fact that they are more connected to the internet.

The level of access to information that has existed in Latin America for some years now partly contradicts the lack of knowledge that consumers should have to feel safe when making transactions. This is why e-commerce was based more than anything on cash-on-delivery purchases.

For the 2017 20% of Latin Americans made purchases online and a growth of approximately 30% was forecast for the region, taking into account that at that time 60% of the population had access to the internet.

Another commonly seen modality was Omnicommerce. In this, people used to see the products on the website of the business of interest and go to the physical store and make the purchase and vice versa.

And although today there are still customary purchases on days like Black Friday and Christmas, it should be noted that before the pandemic, online purchases were made to a large extent only on these days.

Unlike today where these purchases by e-commerce are more common in the day to day of consumers even when there are no special offers. p>

The results of the pandemic     

When the Covid19 pandemic arrived, the consumption habits did not wait to make themselves known. In reality, the radical measures that were taken to prevent and protect citizens forced them to immediately stop going to hypermarkets and stores to make their purchases.

In countries like Brazil there was a reduction in the purchase frequency of 23% while in Mexico the frequency was only reduced by 7%. Fewer visits to stores and more security and isolation measures in some countries more than in others.

At this point, confidence in e-commerce and Fintech arose more out of obligation than pleasure. However, these technological tools fell short. Many companies found themselves in need of migrating to digital and contracting financial technology services to solve purchasing details.

This is how the growth percentage of purchases in e-commerce increased from 20% in 2017 to 60% in times of pandemic. Modifying these consumption habits that stopped satisfying certain whims to direct their interests to basic, hygiene and cleaning products.

This information has been provided by the consultancy Kantar in an in-depth study that recorded the most relevant data on consumer behavior for the first quarter of 2020.

The countries that stand out in purchases by e-commerce are Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. Which reflects in numbers 7 million Latin American families making purchases of goods and services in the region.

Despite the economic crisis that arose as a result of the Covid19 pandemic, in which many families had to considerably reduce their expenses due to having lost their sources of income, purchases in e-commerce increased due to the need to solve the acquisition of basic goods.

This confidence in the e-commerce sector that has arisen as a result of the pandemic has been promoted by updating and modernizing tools such as payment gateways. These Fintech tools have provided the highest security mechanisms that allow transactions to be carried out while protecting user data.

During this period, e-commerce was reinforced by the different Fintech that allowed it to support the necessary transactions due to strong demand and in turn provide financial advice to companies that were beginning to adapt to this new modality.

Five of the Fintech modalities that were seen the most during this pandemic were:

• Payments and remittances
• Enterprise Technologies for Financial Institutions
• Insurers or insurtech
• Digital banking
• Crowdfunding

What does the future hold?

The health crisis is not over yet, however consumer behavior is changing in the new normality. Many consumption habits that began in the pandemic period have turned out to be beneficial for people.

Purchases of hygiene and cleaning supplies are some of the products that will continue to have the same frequency of purchase and it is forecast that they will continue to be purchased through e-commerce.

They will also track your purchase frequency for health and wellness products. This is a market that has experienced special growth, taking into account that, before the pandemic, consumers made this type of purchase regularly, however, the increase not only in frequency but also in quantity is an important aspect of highlight.

Another category of products that has emerged as a result of the Covid19 pandemic and which is forecast to maintain its frequency of consumption through e-commerce is the products of spending more time at home like meals and indulgences.

And finally, according to the consultant Kantar, the habit that attracted the most attention of all, the nervous purchase of toilet paper, is expected to return to its usual levels.