In Brazil, beauty and health purchases account for over 10% of ecommerce spending

16-Sep-2015 - Last updated on 17-Sep-2015 at 16:23 GMT

Combined sales of cosmetics, perfume and health products make this the fourth largest category, and ecommerce growth in all categories is up 16% for the first half of the year, according to marketing strategies firm E-bit.

The São Paulo–based firm’s latest WebShoppers report assesses what’s driving online sales in the country and looks into which categories are doing well.

More is more

The average ecommerce ticket sale was higher when compared to the first half of 2014, notes E-bit in a media release about the new report; 13% higher, in fact, making the typical online purchase R$377.

At the same time, fewer consumers in Brazil have shopped online this year. “A total of 17.6 million people performed at least one purchase on Brazilian online stores, accounting for 49.4 million orders over this period,” according to the media release.

The firm explains that the 7% drop (compared to the same period in 2014) may be due to the fact that some shoppers make online purchases as rarely as once a year and haven’t done so yet in 2015.

Buying beauty

E-bit lumps cosmetics, fragrance and health products into a single category for their annual WebShoppers report. Sales and billing in that category so far this year comprise 11% of the country’s ecommerce.

Fashion and accessories had the highest sales, and made for 15% of ecommerce, followed by household appliances, mobile phones, and then cosmetics. The fifth highest ecommerce sales category so far this year is subscriptions / books and magazines.

Access matters

To determine how available an option ecommerce is, E-bit ran a survey and found 83% of respondents have a mobile device and 84% connect to the internet using home wifi.

Since mobile phones are selling well online, connectivity is likely to increase and online shopping along with it. "Online consumers' computer hours shall certainly be impacted more and more consistently by mobile devices; after all, consumers have smartphones in their hands nearly 100% of the time, and this perception works to lure retail companies to invest in the development of responsive websites," affirms Andre Ricardo Dias, executive director of E-bit, in the media release.

Looking ahead

E-bit anticipates that 2015 will see Brazil realize a 15% year-on-year increase in online sales. The company’s projection is that “e-commerce shall reach R$41.2 billion in sales.”

Beyond that, “a 5% increase in total orders is also estimated for the second half of the year, reaching a total of 108.2 million by the end of the year,” says E-bit.