The projection of the Peruvian Chamber of Electronic Commerce was to exceed 50% growth, but the global economic crisis, the political crisis in Peru, the fall in consumption and the reactivation of the physical channel influenced the performance of electronic commerce. .
Electronic commerce grew 30% in Peru during 2022, reaching a movement of US$ 12.1 billion, according to Capece's Ecommerce Observatory 2022-2023 report.
“Our projection for 2022 was to exceed 50% growth, but the global economic crisis, the political crisis in Peru, the fall in consumption and, no less important, the reactivation of the physical channel, influenced the performance of the e -commerce ”, explained Helmut Cáceda, president of the Peruvian Chamber of Electronic Commerce (Capece).
“The sector that had the greatest growth was the tourism axis, while the one that had the least performance was retail ecommerce ,” he added.
According to the union, at the end of last year, 46% of Peruvians (15.3 million) made their purchases online. Of all of them, 30% of online buyers were from the provinces, although their purchasing frequency is much lower than in the capital.
"Although electronic commerce in the provinces continues to grow at a rate of 50%, 88% of the online sales volume is still concentrated in Lima," said Helmut Cáceda.
On the other hand, the number of businesses that sell online has also increased slightly. If in 2021, nearly 300,000 businesses made their sales through the online channel, at the end of 2022 330,000 did so. Of that total, more than 94,000 have a transactional website (between virtual store, app , online platform).
"Although 50% of companies that sell through the online channel are from the province. Their transactions are smaller than the capital," indicated the president of Capece.
He noted that, while data shows that e-commerce continues to grow, this industry is just taking off. Proof of this is that online sales only represent 4.8% of commerce in general, while in countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) it exceeds 9%.
“In our country, electronic commerce is just taking off. As an industry we have several challenges to solve, such as logistics, customer service and democratizing online sales in the provinces,” the executive explained.
Sectors
According to Helmut Cáceda, electronic commerce represented 40% of card consumption in 2022. “We see that more and more people use their card to make purchases through the online channel. Currently, online sales through cards (credit and debit) have already exceeded $8.1 billion in 2022,” he said.
"We know that although foreign tourism increased more than 300% in Peru in 2022 compared to 2021, the sector has not yet recovered pre-pandemic levels. However, online sales in the tourism sector have grown by 120% compared to 2021, driven by domestic tourism, reaching at least through the digital channel, the levels it had before the health crisis. Therefore, the tourism industry should explore and develop this channel even further during 2023 to continue increasing their presence in the market and generate more income," he added.
On the other hand, retail ecommerce is the axis that grew the least, with only 10%. However, it is still the sector that has the greatest participation in the aforementioned industry, reaching 43.8% of the total sales volume in electronic commerce.
“Since the pandemic, retail in the digital industry was not only the sector that had the greatest growth, but also the one that represented the greatest evolution. The international context, the political crisis and the activation of the physical channel reduced its performance,” the executive said.
