PagSeguro Blog | Local payments and business in Latin America

New white paper: E-commerce and Payment Landscape in Latin America

Written by Mariana González | Nov 28, 2023 1:39:08 PM

PagSeguro announces the release of its brand new white paper, E-commerce and Payment Landscape in Latin America: Insights for the ​industries of betting, cryptocurrency, gaming, streaming, retail, travel, and online education, which dives into the region's online market in 2023 and beyond.

Produced in partnership with Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence (PCMI), the study details the current and future state of e-commerce in the region and the payments shaping its main verticals, with a focus on two of the rising stars of Latam's market: betting and crypto.

Betting, also known as iGaming, is the fastest-growing vertical in Latin America's market, rising by 38% per year and expected to reach $ 54 billion by 2026. This is pushed by a wider acceptance among customers of betting as a legitimate form of entertainment, which also pushes market regulation to be more open to the high-risk vertical. Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency industry is the one with the highest penetration of cross-border e-commerce (73%), and should move a total of $ 55 billion by the end of 2026.

More traditional segments, such as retail and travel, will keep making waves in Latin America's landscape. Retail will remain the number one market in the region — which, in fact, has the highest growing retail market in the world —, ending 2023 with a total of $ 258 billion in online sales.

To open up such potential to foreign merchants, local payment methods are key. As shown in the white paper, which is available to download for free, credit cards will keep losing space to alternative payment methods — led by Pix, which is already the third biggest method for e-commerce in the whole of Latin America, representing 17% of the total online sales volume, even if only accepted in Brazil.

The complete study details the cross-border opportunity and numbers for each of the analyzed vertical, the most used payment methods for each vertical, and much more exclusive data to help you tailor your strategies to Latin America's fascinating market.

To download the full study for free, just click below: