Despite the uncertain situation in Argentina, there is hope for its economy development: Binance and Mastercard launched their first Bitcoin Rewards Card Argentina in early August 2022, and the country has shown a consistent consumer adoption of crypto finance. Also, the country has shown some success regarding digital banking; the digital wallet MODO or the Estrategia Nacional de Inclusión Financiera (National Strategy for Financial Inclusion, ENIF, as per the Spanish-language acronym) to say the least.

But e-commerce has been Argentina’s major bright spot, with an impressive 50% growth for 2022, according to Americas Market Intelligence (AMI).

You can also read Infographic: How Argentines Buy Online.

Argentina E-commerce Market Overview

According to the Argentine Chamber of Electronic Commerce (CACE, as per its Spanish acronym), Argentina’s e-commerce sales volume went up by 68% during 2021 compared to 2020. Total sales were 1.5 trillion Argentine pesos (US$16 billion).

At Americas Market Intelligence (AMI), we use a different methodology than CACE to calculate the market size, working all merchant verticals, PC, mobile and in-app purchases, crossborder e-commerce transactions using a locally issued card and all card-not-present transactions, such as recurring payments.

As such, AMI analysis indicates that in 2021 Argentina posted more than US$18 billion in sales, which represented a 42% growth over 2020.

Projections for Argentina E-Commerce

CACE has no projections for e-commerce in Argentina for 2022 or for the next few years.

According to AMI analysis, the e-commerce market in Argentina will grow by 50% in 2022 to reach US$26 billion. Also, e-commerce in Argentina will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32% between 2021 and 2025, so e-commerce volume in Argentina will reach US$53 billion by the end of 2025.

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Top-Selling Products in Argentina’s E-Commerce Market

According to CACE, the top 10 categories purchased via e-commerce in Argentina by 2021 were:

1. Sportswear and accessories
2. Clothing (non-sports)
3. Food and beverages
4. Audiovisual content and Software
5. Tickets to shows and events
6. Education: Courses, careers, seminars, etc.
7. Cell phones and accessories
8. Electronics, audio, video and TV
9. Mobility and transportation
10. Home appliances

In 2020, the most popular categories for e-commerce in Argentina were:

1. Sportswear and accessories
2. Clothing (non-sports)
3. Food and beverages
4. Cell phones and accessories
5. Computing
6. Air conditioning
7. Audiovisual content and Software
8. Electronics, audio, video and TV
9. Education: Courses, careers, seminars, etc.
10. Home, furniture and garden

The CACE also ranked the categories of products that were bought by a consumer for the first time in 2021. As so, the best “first time” selling products for e-commerce in Argentina were:

1. Cell phones and accessories
2. Food, beverages and delivery
3. Clothing (non-sports)
4. Sportswear
5. Hygiene and beauty products
6. Computing
7. Airfare, hotels and cruises
8. TV and audio
9. Tickets to shows and events
10. Education: Courses, careers, seminars, etc.

Top Payment Methods in Argentina’s E-Commerce Market

According to CACE, in 2021 the most common payment methods used for e-commerce shopping in Argentina were:

• Credit card used via a payment platform (63%)
• Credit card used via a payment gateway (12%)
• Cash payment upon receiving product or using Pago Fácil or Rapipago (11%)
• Debit card used via a payment platform (7%)
• Electronic wallet (4%)
• Bank transfers (1%)
• Credit card used at the moment of claiming the product at the store (1%)

CACE points out that payments with a credit card through a payment platform or gateway (which represented 76% of sales in 2021) dropped down two percentual points since 2019.

AMI uses transactional data for this analysis, so as per AMI the most common payment methods used for e-commerce shopping in Argentina in 2021 were*:

• Credit cards (50 % of total sales)
• Debit cards (19 %)
• Digital wallets (21 %)
• Cash vouchers (4 %)
• Bank transfers (3 %)
• Buy Now Pay Later (0,6 %)
• Other methods** (3%)

*This data refer to 2021, but our LatAm E-commerce Data Library presents a history of most common payment methods in Argentina from 2016 to 2021, and projections for 2022, 2023, 2024 y 2025.

**Includes gift cards, cash-on-delivery, direct carrier billing, and other miscellaneous payment methods

Devices Used for Purchases in Argentina’s E-Commerce Market

CACE data is survey-based. In their last report, shoppers were asked what device they used to make their last online purchase:

56% of consumers in Argentina said they made their last purchase on a mobile device. Best-seller categories through phones were clothing, sportswear, food and beverages, and phones.

42% made their purchases through other kinds of devices: laptops and notebooks (24%) or PC (18%). Best-seller categories through laptops were audiovisual content and software, tourism, and sportswear. As for PC, they were sports clothing, tourism, and computing.

AMI analysis uses actual year-round e-commerce transaction data. According to AMI:

• 56% of e-commerce purchases in Argentina in 2021 were made via smartphone
• 44% of e-commerce purchases in Argentina in 2021 were made via desktop

It is important to note that mobile commerce in Argentina grew +11 percentage points between 2020 and 2021. For 2022, Americas Market Intelligence projects a share of 62% for mobile purchases in Argentina.

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Argentine E-Commerce Consumer Insights

The following are some interesting aspects of e-commerce consumer behaviour, according to CACE:

• 5 out of 10 Argentinian consumers made their online purchases through social media. Of those:
  • 67% of Argentine social commerce consumers have made purchases through Facebook at least once
  • At least 5 out of 10 Argentinian social shoppers have used Instagram to shop online
  • 25% of social commerce consumers in Argentina have used WhatsApp as an online shopping channel

• 8 out of 10 Argentines are aware of the price of the products they buy online and decide to search for promotions and discounts

• 99% of online shoppers in Argentina are satisfied with their shopping experience

• Internet search is the main means of searching for information prior to a purchase (45% of consumers), followed by apps and marketplaces (39%) and brand websites (21%)

Going Further

To learn more about the Argentine e-commerce market, contact AMI for a deeper, more specific dive that can help with your strategic planning.

AMI specializes in research and market intelligence for the Argentina and LatAm e-commerce markets in a number of key areas:

• Identifying the major payment methods used in Argentina’s e-commerce markets to help merchants with strategic planning, market entry and market expansion

• Helping merchants understand the cross-border e-commerce potential in Argentina and the practices that can increase cross-border sales

• Using artificial intelligence and machine learning to help e-commerce merchants focused on Argentina to analyze their customer data for a deeper understanding of e-commerce shopper behavior and tendencies so as to refine their marketing tactics, messaging and consumer outreach

Contact us if your company has specific data, market research or market intelligence needs regarding the e-commerce market in Latin America or in specific markets such as Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru.

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