Ecommerce in Colombia: Exploding opportunities? - Núm. 11, Enero 2015 - Revista Civilizar de Empresa y Economía - Libros y Revistas - VLEX 651034845

Ecommerce in Colombia: Exploding opportunities?

AutorMaximilian Beck - Erick Behar Villegas
CargoProfesor de Marketing Colegio de Estudios Superiores de Administraci?n CESA
Páginas9-24
ECOMMERCE IN COLOMBIA:
EXPLODING OPPORTUNITIES?
Maximilian Beck & Erick Behar Villegas*
ABSTRACT
eCommerce in Colombia has recently experienced an atypical growth in
comparison to a common trend observed in Latin America in recent years.
Colombia can be seen as a late starter in terms of transactional and connectivity
growth. However, its market has been evolving rapidly due to government
policy, banking penetration and individual eorts to create trust in the
eCommerce sector. With a promising market, Colombia may be set to outpace
the development of pioneering Latin American countries such as Brazil. This
analysis is then used to provide a set of entrepreneurial recommendations for
actors involved in the eCommerce sector.
Keywords: eCommerce, connectivity, Colombia, electronic commerce,
Internet.
RESUMEN
El comercio electrónico en Colombia ha experimentado un reciente y atípico
crecimiento comparado con la tendencia latinoamericana de las últimas
décadas. Colombia puede ser vista como un competidor tardío en términos de
crecimiento de su conectividad y sus transacciones. Sin embargo, su mercado
ha venido evolucionando rápidamente a través de políticas gubernamentales,
bancarización y esfuerzos individuales enfocados en la creación de conanza
en el sector del comercio electrónico. Con un mercado prometedor, Colombia
puede llegar a superar el ritmo de desarrollo de otros países latinoamericanos
pioneros en este sector, tal como Brasil. Esta base es usada para proponer
recomendaciones de tipo empresarial para actores que se desempeñan en el
sector del eCommerce.
Palabras clave: eCommerce, conectividad, Colombia, comercio electrónico,
internet.
JEL: M00, M1.
* Maximilian Beck, Profesor de Marketing Colegio de Estudios Superiores de Administración CESA. mbeck@cesa.edu.co>. Erick Behar
Villegas, Profesor de Marketing Colegio de Estudios Superiores de Administración CESA. Profesor de Economía/Métrica Web, Universidad
Externado de Colombia. .
10 civilizar 11
Maximilian Beck & Erick Behar Villegas
Introduction
eCommerce activities in Colombia have experienced an atypical process of development in re-
cent years. When the eCommerce boom was emerging as a shopping alternative in neighboring
countries a decade ago, the Colombian market did not seem to follow the same dynamic. This
situation has changed considerably. Today, eCommerce is one of the fastest growing business
domains in Colombia (Dinero, 2014), having not only caught-up with but also being set to outpa-
ce many Latin American countries in the near future (yStats, 2014).
This paper attempts to discuss theoretical and business-related aspects that are relevant for di-
gital entrepreneurship in Colombia in order to provide entrepreneurial recommendations. We
begin this paper by providing an overview of the Colombian eCommerce environment. As a next
step, we review the literature on Colombian eCommerce as well as some theoretical aspects and
further analyze the evolution of the Colombian eCommerce market based on national and inter-
national research. This analysis is then taken as the base for a set of recommendations that target
entrepreneurs intending to embark in or expand eCommerce activities in Colombia.
Initial considerations
While ve years ago, eCommerce transactions played only a minor role in national commercial
activities with less than 600 million dollars billed online (Dinero, 2014), B2C Internet sales already
surpassed 3,5 billion dollars in 2014 (Orrego-Garay, 2015, p. 94). In other Latin American markets
such as Brazil, Chile or Peru, eCommerce activities had not only attained higher absolute levels in
the past, but have also played a more signicant role in total retail sales, pointing to higher levels
of consumer acceptance than in Colombia (eMarketer, 2015).
Colombia appears to be a late starter and still has a long way of catching-up ahead. With
eCommerce representing only 0.2% of GDP, Colombia falls behind Latin American averages
(0.6%) and the global average of almost 2% (Cámara Colombiana de Comercio Electrónico
[CCCE], 2014; Ecommerce Foundation, 2014). In spite of having one of the highest internet
penetration rates in Latin America of around 60%, only one out of ten Colombians shops online
(El Tiempo, 2014), whereas every third Brazilian or Chilean uses the Internet to purchase goods
and services (Ecommerce Foundation, 2014). Given that Colombia’s share in Latin American B2C-
eCommerce sales barely surpasses 5%, while being the third largest economy and fourth largest
online audience (ComScore, 2014; CCCE, 2014), the road ahead still seems steep.
However, Colombia seems to be rapidly catching up with yearly growth rates in eCommerce
transactions already accelerating to more than 40% between 2013 and 2014. This doubles the
average global growth rate of 20% and contrasts with declining growth rates in more mature
eCommerce markets (eMarketer, 2014b; Ecommerce Foundation, 2014). While only in 2010
Colombia signicantly underperformed in all categories of the Visa-“E-readiness” report that are
crucial for the development and growth of eCommerce activities, the 2014 document suggests
major improvements in all areas with Colombia having risen to the fth largest eCommerce
market in the region (Visa & AméricaEconomía Intelligence [AEI], 2010; Visa, 2014). During the
latest edition of Cybermonday1 (Cyberlunes®) in June of 2015, trac rates were 64% higher than
the same event in December of 2014 and 124% than the May 2014 edition (CCCE, 2015b).
1. Cybermonday is nationwide eCommerce event that involves special deals during one or two days. It is normally carried out in May-June
and December every year. The last edition was supported by massive advertisement campaigns on print-media, TV, banners, radio and on
the individual advertisement of the participating businesses (For more information cf. www.cyberlunes.com.co).

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