Apparel, Accessories & Computer Electronics rank Top Product Categories among Online Buyers in LatAM

comScore, Inc. released its 2012 Latin America E-commerce Study. The study, which surveyed nearly 1,100 respondents in Latin America, looked at online shopping and buying activity across Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela, as well as online travel behavior and mobile activity. The study found that online shoppers were most likely to start the shopping process directly from a retailer’s website or via keyword search. Apparel & Accessories ranked as the most popular retail product category, with 43 percent of Latin American online shoppers having purchased these items online within the past three months.

Brand Awareness and Loyalty are Keys to Driving Online Purchase

Analysis of how Latin Americans begin their online shopping experience found that nearly 7 in 10 shoppers directly navigate to the retailer’s website, highlighting the importance of brand recognition and loyalty for retailers in the region. More than half of online shoppers (56 percent) said they typically begin the shopping process through keyword searches, while 36 percent started shopping via an online advertisement.

Specific market insights revealed that online shoppers in Brazil were more likely to begin their shopping process via comparison shopping sites and online ads compared to the rest of the region, while Peruvians were more likely to use social networks and offline ads to begin their process.

Apparel & Accessories and Computer Electronics Rank as Top Online Purchase Categories

Among online shoppers in Latin America, 43 percent of respondents indicated they had purchased apparel or accessories online in the past three months, ranking it as the top retail category. Computer electronics ranked second with 41 percent of online shoppers purchasing these items online, while 36 percent of shoppers purchased music, movies or videos. Appliances ranked as the fourth most popular purchased category (35 percent), while 1 in 3 consumers purchased computer hardware online.

Other key findings from the 2012 Latin America E-commerce Study include:

Local retailers’ websites are most preferred in Argentina, Brazil and Chile, while consumers in Mexico and Venezuela are more likely to prefer international retail sites.

Online shoppers in Argentina are the most engaged in the region, with nearly half of Argentines performing shopping-related activities online almost daily.

Online spending was highest among respondents from Brazil and Venezuela.

Convenience ranked as the top reason consumers chose to shop online in Latin America, while security and privacy concerns were the top barriers to online shopping.

Among online shoppers in Latin America, 8 in 10 have searched the Internet for at least one travel-related product in the past three months.

For more information at http://www.comscore.com