By: Camila Rua/ Translated by: Lorena Gómez
Currently, Latin America has approximately 300 million digital shoppers, according to Statista. This means that in this region, e-commerce is a significant market to explore in an informed way, as, just like in physical stores, each market has its own dynamics.
The countries leading the market are Brazil and Mexico, while countries like Colombia and Argentina are starting to stand out. One common factor is that their marketplace principal es Mercado Libre, followed by Amazon in Mexico and Colombia, Falabella in Chile, and Magalú in Brazil.
Since 2019, Mercado Libre has created a section for sustainable products, and in 2024, over 4.8 million products with a positive impact were sold in the region. One of the areas with the most growth was the category of sustainable fashion, with a 92% increase compared to 2023.
For the report of Consumer Trends online with positive impact of Latin America 2024,, Mercado Libre make a survey of shoppers from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Chile in May 2024 and found that the five most valued aspects of positive-impact fashion by customers are:
- Protects biodiversity
- 100% made from natural materials
- Socially responsible
- Recycled materials
- Local industry
However, fashion consumption on this marketplace is not the same across all countries. An example of this is Colombia, which has 26 million e-commerce users, a number close to Argentina's 26.98 million. Even so, according to the Fashion & Beauty 2024 report, the latter country has more than three million fashion products, approximately six times more than the 600,000 fashion products that Colombia has.
This means that, the digital fashion market in Colombia does not have Mercado Libre as its main platform, and as such, sustainable fashion operates under different dynamics compared to other Latin American countries. Despite this, the previous statistical reports reflect the interests of shoppers and the potential of this area.
