Online market in Latin America

According to Packaged Facts, the international marketing and communications agency Zoo Inc., which covers the agricultural, livestock and pet food industry, reports that online pet product sales in Latin America make up 30 per cent of the market. This indicates considerable growth compared to the 8 per cent it held in 2015. Purely online retailers already had a strong presence, but since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, traditional stores have found the need to build reliable e-commerce platforms. Retailers such as Amazon, Walmart and Chewy are big in the US market, but the Latin American market has another strong contender: Mercado Libre.

Mercado Libre is an Argentinian e-commerce company with a presence in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and other South American countries. With 378 million registered users in 2020, Mercado Libre is the most popular e-commerce website in the region. The platform supports both C2C (customer to customer) and B2C (business to customer) interactions, allowing users to list new and second-hand products as well as enabling small and medium-sized businesses to open a shop on the website. Brands such as Australian Moss, Hills, Instinct, Mutt and Pedigree have official shops on Mercado Libre.
Back in 2019, Mercado Libre conducted an analysis of user behaviour in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay. It found that 45 per cent of the demand for pet food came from millennials, especially in Mexico and Colombia, with 52 and 58 per cent respectively. It reported that during the first six months of that year, it noticed an increase in the consumption of pet food on the website. It also noted that there are differences among the countries on the preferred pack weight. For example, on average, Uruguay users usually purchase pet food bags in excess of 8 kg, while Chilean consumers tend to buy 1 or 2 kg bags.
An improvement on the fulfilment system implemented by the platform means that users feel safe and comfortable making purchases on the website or the app. This shows that Latin America is a profitable market to invest in.

Campi is a company that decided to incorporate a feed division to optimise its production costs and improve its market share. The company is currently present in 17 Mexican states and has plans to expand into the Caribbean and Central America.Campi specialises in the production of pet food and has developed its own line of…