E-commerce, virtual wallets and more: Google reveals what Argentines are looking for and their new habits

E-commerce has shown sustained growth in recent years which has been driven by the pandemic and that, in 2022, during the last edition of the Hot Sale, average daily sales almost quadrupled. A Google report reveals the consumption habits of Argentines.

Our country was the Latin American market with the highest growth of the year, with an increase of 25.3% in 2022 and was placed fifth overallbehind only Singapore (36%), Indonesia (34%), Philippines (25.9%) and India (25.3%), according to data from eMarketer.

This growth is the result of the new consumption habits of Argentines. 90% of people they believe the way they shop has changed since their pre-pandemic behavior.

Now, according to Google, they diversify their stores more and look for the best prices before buying (82%), they use payment methods that they had not employed first (82%), they replace brands they used to buy by price (80%) and do more research before giving the okay (78%).

As for the payment methods, the digital wallets (45%) are preferred by Argentines over other more traditional methods, followed by bank transfer (35%), debit card (33%) and prepaid card (23%).

Another of the changes in recent years is the composition by age and the relevance of the new generations for the sector. 19% of online shoppers in Argentina are between the ages of 18 and 24 and it is estimated that by 2030 most households will be led by Gen Z.

What are Argentines looking for?

Research, advance planning of discount seasons and the search for the best price are behaviors that characterize consumers in Latin America. But what are Argentine consumers looking for? 60% Google ideas, prices and offers, helping to move from inspiration to consideration.

“In Argentina, consumers are more intelligent and rational. Faced with an uncertain environment, they are adopting a more selective attitude in consumption, with high involvement in the buying process,” said Natalia Schenkelman, Strategy and Insights Lead at Google Argentina.

In this context, the search interest for ‘discounts’ and ‘prices’ registers a growth of more than 9% and 6% compared to the previous year. Today, consumers shop looking for the best value equation, a prime example being the Travel segment, where interest in pricing has increased by more than 50% since 2021.

But not everything is about discovering offers and discounts in the search engine. The comparison between products is gaining more and more importance: the exploration and evaluation process had an increase of +21% in searches. In Google, the option “compare the prices of home appliances in Argentina” registered a 88% increase.

“Over 80% discover and research Hot Sale deals online. This is reflected in the searches people make on Google. For example, we see that interest starts at least a month before, and especially in 2022, we had a peak in the two weeks leading up to the event,” says Evangelina Suárez, Commercial Director of Retail for Google Argentina.

This shows that consumers are more conscious and intentional in their purchases, make fewer impulse purchases and spend more time researching and making advance decisions. And in this sense, technology and, in particular, artificial intelligence, allow brands to build more visual and predictive shopping experiences of interest to meet consumer needs.