The president of CEDU and founder of Handsoft & Plexo, Guillermo Varela, referred to the “visualization of the country’s recovery after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the new scenario created from changes in the behavior of Uruguayan consumers.
“Of all the sectors that make up the national economy, electronic commerce is the one that came out the most robust and the one that played a fundamental role in the dark times we are experiencing, allowing our companies to continue operating and that most of our clients did not close their stores. doors,” he said.
Online sales
Varela presented the results of the report carried out by the consulting firm Factum, which reflects how it has been possible to “maintain the preponderant role of this industry in the post-pandemic stage.”
According to the study “Electronic Commerce Indicators”, 87% of firms sold online in 2021. For the president of CEDU, this poses the “challenge of continuing to work to reduce the number of companies that do not have this sales channel and bring the remaining 13% to 0”.
He highlighted that the average increase in online sales was 30% compared to 2020.
Regarding the online sales modalities, “92% of the companies indicated that in 2021 they had their own site to market their products and 69% had a specific area for eCommerce, 68% offered the online modality and the store outside of a shopping mall, 50% had sales online and on the Marketplace, 30% sold online and through a physical store within a mall, and 2% used other types of online sales. Values that experienced minimal variations with respect to the data registered in 2020”.
According to the data presented, it also appears that “45% of the turnover in 2021 was through online channels, either on its own site or on a marketplace, and 55% was through physical channels inside or outside a shopping”.
In reference to the means of payment in sales directly online, there is a “preponderance in the use of credit cards (63%)”.
While “debit cards are in second place with 14%, bank transfers are in third place with 9% and payment in collection networks is fourth (7%), followed by prepaid cards (3%) and cash (2%)”.
The study also contemplated which were the forms of delivery used in relation to the percentage of billing in sales by electronic commerce. “64% of the survey participants opted for home delivery, 33% chose branch pickup, only 3% opted for logistics provider network pickup, and 1% mentioned other modalities in purchase orders. ”.
Another of the points addressed by the research is linked to the percentage of women who held positions in the eCommerce area in 2021. Varela mentioned that “53% of the positions in this sector are held by the female gender, a figure that grew one point on average compared to 2020.”
Regarding online purchases, “57% of those surveyed access products or services through this means, 30% request delivery of their orders and 22% use transport applications”.
When asked the question: “When the pandemic is over, will you continue to spend the same amount on online purchases as during the pandemic?”, 67% of Internet users assured that they will do so with the same frequency or more and more.
Varela said that, as “ambassadors of digitalization”, eCommerce companies must take another step to “start pointing out the path to follow” in this sector of the economy. He believed that there must be a will to defend the use of technology in business among all the actors involved.
