Food and Drink E-Commerce in Brazil

PROSPECTS

Food and drink e-commerce continues to grow but retailers continue to face challenges

Food and drink e-commerce remained a small and fairly untapped category within internet retailing in Brazil in 2019. Despite recording a positive performance, it represents a challenge to many grocery retailers in the country for a number of reasons, one of them being that selling food online is particularly difficult, relating to the provision of detailed information on products in contrast to the store-based experience.

Stronger potential for food and drink e-commerce somewhat limited by Brazilians’ appreciation for personal interaction in store-based retailers

Another factor that is limiting the stronger penetration of food and drink e-commerce in Brazil is that local consumers are very tactile and appreciate the personal interaction they experience when physically visiting a grocery retailer to do their shopping, particularly when purchasing seasonal produce which they like to inspect for quality and freshness. Therefore, they remain fairly reluctant to purchase food in particular online as they are concerned about a poor delivery service including fees and the time their orders actually take to reach them.

Targeting consumers with specific discounts should encourage strong customer loyalty

Many Brazilians continue to be driven by discounts across retailing, regardless of the product they are purchasing. This offers retailers the opportunity to target consumers with specific discounts based on their purchasing habits, navigational history and previous orders, in addition to offering loyalty programmes which allow customers to build up points or vouchers depending on how much they have spent.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Carrefour continues to invest in digital solutions to enhance consumer experience

Carrefour is continuing to invest in its online platform with the aim of becoming the leading food and drink e-commerce retailer in Brazil. Since December 2018, the player has maintained its pilot scheme for Scan & Go technology in the country, which allows consumers to make purchases in its physical stores and pay through the retailer’s app on their smartphones without having to queue at a point of sale.

Cia Brasileira de Distribuição expands delivery options by purchasing app

Despite ongoing impressive current value growth predicted for food and drink e-commerce in Brazil over the forecast period, issues relating to delivery will remain one of the main constraining factors to its stronger potential amongst a wider audience. However, as Brazilians living in urban areas are reviewing their need to own a car, investments to improve the delivery service of food and drink ordered online would be a key benefit to attracting this consumer group, particularly when they want to purchase a larger shop which would be impractical if they were to walk to their nearest convenience store.

Wine’s online subscription club expands into store-based retailing

Wine, which is an e-commerce specialist retailer which initially started as a wine subscription club, launched a physical store in October 2019. The store allows customers to taste the different wines and immediately purchase a bottle via the company’s app (WineUP), which is then delivered to their homes.

Files are delivered directly into your account within a few minutes of purchase.