Paying and buying with your mobile phone: the axis of a debate on the rise of digital commerce

The mobile already concentrates everything and today any device, even the cheapest, brings powerful processors, large screens and excellent definition and ultra-resistant batteries. It is estimated that Almost all Argentines over the age of 12 have at least one, but data is their ever-increasing use for making payments and purchases. The pandemic has accelerated e-commerce: last year, digital purchases increased by 68%, but specialists point out another aspect: 6 out of 10 pesos billed online are made with a smartphone.

“Cell phones are shopping” was the central theme of the dialogue organized by Clarione held this Thursday, in which businessmen, specialists and contacts analyzed the challenge faced by companies to face this new scenario. Gustavo Sambucetti, Institutional Director of CACE (Argentina Chamber of Electronic Commerce) participated; the director and designer of House of Cholas, Carmela Bustelo; Axel Marinsek, eCommerce Manager for Wunderman Thompson Argentina and Chile; Ana Vainman, Head of Institutional Relations of AFARTE; and Astrid Mirkin, General Manager of Rappi Argentina and Uruguay, all led by two journalists from Clarione: the director of Economics, Daniel Fernández Canedo and Martín Grosz.

ECommerce was already advancing, but its axis was computers. Sambucetti underlines this 1.3 million new users were added during the pandemic, but “670,000 more were added in 2021 and this on a broader basis”. As you said, forced confinement has broken down some barriers that have prevented its growth. “First, the fear that people would have to pay online both with their PC and mobile phone. The second thing is that the mobile payment interfaces were much less friendly than they are now, “she said.

Some of these changes are reflected in the statistics. It is estimated that in Argentina electronic commerce it already accounts for 10% of retail sales. A study by Wunderman Thompson revealed that online shopping on a global scale will exceed 50% of retail sales in the short term. The survey was conducted in 17 countries, including Argentina, among over 28,000 consumers. In part, this has to do with the development of applications and service platforms, such as delivery.

“We are facing an increasingly demanding consumer, who wants more things, that is faster and more efficient. And that’s why the user appreciates the ability to have different verticals to view and buy in the same application, “said Mirkin, of Rappi. There is another feature that experts point out from the local consumer.”The average Argentine is very quick to adopt innovations and new technologies“, the specialists agree. Not surprisingly, the high level of penetration that almost all social networks in our country have: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp and TikTok, among others.

None of this is extraneous to the interest of companies, which is not easy at all. Marinsek explains that “brands need to understand the customer; understand where that customer is, what that customer’s interests are and how to identify him with the brand and find him where he is in the end. “A real headache for marketers, because customers, people, have” the decision, the purchasing power and stimuli are everywhere today and it is very easy to escape advertising “.

Experts describe a complex scenario, in which new behaviors and technological innovations always converge. Bustelo says the reality “is very challenging because there is a lot of competition, there is a lot of content and a lot of information”. According to Bustelo, this requires “always being up to date to offer products with your personal brand and that sets you apart from the competition”.

The proliferation of cell phones and the spread of very advanced technologies introduce permanent changes in habits and behaviors. Online shopping is fast becoming mobile shopping, and the outbreak of the pandemic has a lot to do with this. In 2019, e-commerce revenue was spread across 89 million purchase orders. In quarantine, for the whole of 2020, the figure has risen to 164 million. In 2021, according to Accenture, the trend showed a growth that marked 196 million transactions.

Vainman, of AFARTE, explains that advanced technologies (which initially reach the market through high-end mobile phones) are quickly being transferred to cheaper models. “It is estimated that 72% of smartphones sold are mid-range, whose prices range from $ 24,500 to $ 61,000. These are the foundations for online shopping have a camera to recognize the QR and have a fingerprint reader. Currently, even low-end equipment has these two technologies “, summarized the expert.

Sambucetti listed three essential factors for the development of eCommerce: “The technological offer, the means of payment and logistics. In the latter aspect there is an exceptional balance. However, in the last year, 35% of companies have rented or reassigned square meters of storage to the online channel. The development of logistics allows to respect the delivery times of orders, because the technology goes faster than the physical package “, she concluded.