E-commerce in Chile

E-commerce

Internet access

With a population of over 18 million, Chile is the 7th most populated country in Latin America. As of June 2017, there were 14.1 million Internet users in Chile, which accounts for 77% of the population. According to WeAreSocial, in 2017 laptops and desktops account for 56% of web traffic (decrease of 16% when compared to 2016), while mobile phones represent 42% (increase of 34%). The use of broadband is widespread, although the speed and cost may vary from one place to another. According to Pewglobal, as of 2017 65% of the population owned a smartphone, out of which 86% were aged between 18 and 35 years old. The most popular search engines are Google (97.73%), Bing (1.16%), Yahoo! (0.98%), DuckDuckGo (0.05%), MSN (0.03%) and Baidu (0.01%).

E-commerce market

In the last five years, e-commerce has more than doubled in Chile. The Santiago Chamber of Commerce estimates that online B2C sales in Chile in 2017 have reached US$ 3 billion, a dramatic increase of 20% since 2016. This has opened the appetite of many national and international actors, including the established retail, which entered to compete in this segment. Several traditional stores have been investing in technological and logistical solutions that allow customers to have an online shopping experience. Chile’s digital economy currently accounts for 3% of GDP. By 2020 it is expected to increase to around 4.5%.

Social media

There are 13 million active social media users in Chile, with a penetration of 71%. Of all the social media users, 68% access a social network on a daily basis. There are 12.3M Facebook users in Chile, out of which 51% are female. Over 70% of all Facebook users who live in Chile are aged 18-44. The most popular social networks in Chile are Facebook (68.31%), YouTube (13,46%), Pinterest (9,6%), Twitter (5,53%), Instagram (2%) and Tumblr (0,67%).