Argentine e-commerce firm Mercado Libre said Tuesday it plans to more than double its distribution centers, or "fulfillment" centers, where products are stored until they are purchased by the consumer, to 21 logistics units by the end of next year.

More than half of the distribution centers of this model will be located outside São Paulo, the company said in a statement, in an effort to expand its coverage in the Northeast, Central-West and South regions of Brazil.

The new stores will be installed in states such as Rio Grande do Sul, Pernambuco, Ceará, Bahia, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro and also in the Federal District, according to the company.

The expansion is already planned in the investment of 23 billion reais - about US$ 4.166 billion - in Brazil, announced in March of this year by the e-commerce giant.

Mercado Libre also reported that it is optimizing its air fleet, expanding the capacity of its Air Hub (space for flights) in Guarulhos, São Paulo and, starting this Tuesday, the start of a new provisional route to Caxias do Sul, focusing on deliveries to the southern region of the country, while it reopens the Porto Alegre airport, after having been affected by heavy rains in the region earlier this year.

The e-commerce company also said it will expand its air fleet with two new cargo planes in partnership with GOLLOG, Gol's cargo and parcel transport service, by the end of 2025.

"With this new aircraft, Latin America's largest e-commerce company now has nine cargo planes dedicated to its regional expansion strategy," the company said in a statement.

Mercado Libre, which also owns the digital bank Mercado Pago, has updated its strategy to operate with robots in one of its centers in Cajamar.

The technology, known as "Shelves to Person," already has 334 robots in total and processes 20,000 items daily, according to the company.

Mercado Libre added that this strategy allows it to reduce order processing time by up to 20% and provides a 15% space saving in operations.