How Learning Resources Scaled Their Ecommerce Presence Across Latin America

Expanding into Latin America has long been a strategic goal for global ecommerce brands—but turning that potential into results is rarely simple. From navigating local regulations to managing fragmented marketplaces, scaling across the region requires much more than just a great product. That’s exactly the situation Learning Resources faced.

With strong performance in the U.S. and Europe, they knew Latin America represented a valuable opportunity. But despite years of distribution through schools and retail partners, the ecommerce channel remained largely untapped—until they found a solution to bridge that gap and finally reach consumers directly.

Continue reading to learn how Learning Resources unlocked growth across Latin America, streamlined their ecommerce operations, and turned complexity into opportunity.

About the Brand

Founded in 1984 and based just outside of Chicago, Learning Resources is a global leader in educational toys and learning materials. With over 60 years of experience designing classroom tools (through brands like Hand2mind) and 40 years building its flagship Learning Resources brand, the company has become a trusted name in education-focused play across the world.

“A lot of people are introduced to our brand through our cash register—it’s almost like an iconic product. Parents who played with it as kids are now buying it for their children,” Kyle says, highlighting the generational impact of their products.

Their product portfolio spans from STEM toys and coding kits to early learning games and classroom essentials. These products cater to children from 18 months to 12 years old. One of their most iconic products—the Pretend & Play Cash Register—has remained a bestseller for over 30 years. It continues to be passed down across generations. More recently, Learning Resources has expanded into new verticals. This includes educational toys for pets, opening up entirely new distribution channels.

The Challenge

While Learning Resources had an established presence in Latin America through school distributors and government tenders, they had long struggled to tap into the region’s ecommerce potential. Their traditional partners were highly effective in B2B and institutional sales, but weren’t equipped for direct-to-consumer models.

“A lot of our traditional distributors… they work with schools. It’s still pretty common that they take a physical paper catalog and go page by page with the administrator.”

With over 3,000 products in their portfolio, entering e-commerce required more than just listing SKUs. It demanded marketing capabilities, operational readiness, and deep knowledge of fragmented marketplaces. Unlike the U.S., where Amazon dominates, Kyle noted that “Latin America is so fragmented versus what we’re used to as a company.”

Another major challenge was regulation—especially in key markets like Brazil. Selling toys locally involved certifications like INMETRO, yearly product testing, and multi-layered taxation that drastically inflated retail prices.

“It’s so hard under a traditional model to sell products into Brazil. Our distributors have to go through testing requirements, certifications, taxes… It makes our products become so expensive.”

Internally, Learning Resources already had strong e-commerce infrastructure in the U.S., with a large marketing team and a 350,000+ square foot warehouse. Replicating that model in Latin America wasn’t viable. They needed a solution to scale efficiently. This would allow them to grow without setting up local teams or investing in complex logistics operations.

“We knew there was a lot of potential, but we were underserving the ecommerce channel in Latin America.”

The Solution: nocnoc as a Cross-Border Partner

To overcome the operational and regulatory complexity of Latin America’s e-commerce landscape, Learning Resources partnered with a cross-border expert. This expert could act as an extension of their own team—managing localization, fulfillment, and marketplace integration across the region.

By removing the need to work with local legal entities, Learning Resources could finally scale in Latin America. They avoided investing in separate warehousing and logistics in each country. nocnoc’s cross-border model enabled them to receive payments in USD. They managed the entire process locally. This included publishing products across multiple marketplaces, ensuring optimization for each platform, managing compliance, and handling logistics—from warehousing to last-mile delivery.

“We don’t have to absorb all the cost of certifications, testing, and regulation like we would under a traditional model… It’s much more efficient.”

Another key advantage was nocnoc’s ability to streamline operations across fragmented ecommerce platforms. Instead of managing dozens of integrations individually, Learning Resources could rely on nocnoc’s unified backend and marketplace expertise to consolidate everything in one seamless workflow.

“If we were to do this in-house… we’d have to repeat what we do for Amazon over so many marketplaces. nocnoc has helped us optimize content, integrate systems, and manage it all as a single process.”

Through this partnership, Learning Resources gained access to key sales channels across the region without needing to build localized teams or infrastructure from scratch.

The Results: A New Channel Unlocked

Since launching their e-commerce presence through a cross-border model, Learning Resources quickly gained access to a channel. This channel had long been out of reach. While the partnership is still in its early stages, the shift has already opened new opportunities. These opportunities were previously too complex or costly to pursue.

“It’s almost like an overnight success… We’ve discovered this whole new world we can actually take advantage of.”

One of the first major milestones was participating in regional promotional events—something the brand had never done at scale in Latin America. Events like Día del Niño offered the chance to drive sales. It also helped build brand awareness with new audiences across multiple countries.

“We just recently had our first one, which was a promotional event… and we hope to continue expanding that. We’re going to increase our investment in advertising and really take advantage of those kinds of opportunities.”

Beyond visibility, the results have validated a long-standing belief within the company: that there is strong demand for their products in the region—if the brand can reach the right customers, through the right channels.

“We’ve always felt our product is valued and desired… The challenge was how to reach that consumer. Now we can.”

 What Made It Work

Several factors made the partnership successful from the start—but above all, it was about finding a partner that combined deep local expertise with the agility of a fast-moving, tech-driven company.

“nocnoc represents the best of both worlds—the energy and creativity of a fast-moving company, with the knowledge and structure to navigate complex markets.”

The onboarding process was smooth, with nocnoc guiding the technical integration, syncing systems, and optimizing content across platforms. For a brand with thousands of SKUs, the ability to simplify operations and scale efficiently was critical.

“Anytime we had an integration challenge or issue, the team reacted very quickly. It’s a true partnership in every sense of the word.”

From uploading products to managing marketplace listings, handling fulfillment, customer service, and returns, nocnoc offered an end-to-end solution. It required no local legal entity or team on the ground. Everything was centralized and coordinated. This allowed Learning Resources to stay focused on brand growth while their e-commerce presence expanded across the region.

“It’s a very efficient process… instead of having to deal independently with all these different marketplaces, it all flows through a single channel.”

But beyond tools and processes, it was the people behind the platform that made the difference. According to Kyle, what stood out most was nocnoc’s responsiveness, transparency, and problem-solving mindset.

“Our partnership with nocnoc has not only helped us navigate many of the early challenges to unlock growth in the region, but we are confident it has positioned us well for long-term strategic growth in Latin America like we have never experienced before.”

Takeaways for Other Brands

For global brands looking to grow in high-potential but complex markets like Latin America, Learning Resources’ experience offers a clear path forward: you don’t need to build from scratch—just choose the right partner.

“Yeah, I would absolutely recommend working with nocnoc. 100%. You’ll be working with a very capable team who has knowledge of these marketplaces… but also a team that brings an incredible amount of energy and passion.”

What set nocnoc apart, according to Kyle, wasn’t just marketplace knowledge or operational support—but the combination of capability, creativity, and energy.

He emphasized how this balance helped them move quickly and confidently through a region that can often be unpredictable:

“That’s what I admire—nocnoc represents this very well: being able to work in unstable times… you’ll always find a way, no matter if it’s high inflation or conversion rates. You survive and thrive in that market.”

The takeaway? Latin America may be complex—but with the right support, it’s not only manageable, it’s a real opportunity.

nocnoc helped Learning Resources do more than expand—they built a presence that’s built to last.

Enter Latin America with nocnoc

If your brand is ready to follow the path of Learning Resources and unlock real growth in Latin America—the fastest-growing ecommerce region in the world—nocnoc is here to make it happen.

With access to 15+ leading marketplaces across Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile, nocnoc helps global brands go live faster, easier, and without local complications.

Just one partner, one integration, and one seamless solution for the entire region.

Want to expand into Latin America without the headaches? Sign up now and let nocnoc handle the complexity—so you can focus on selling.