LATAM Beauty Workshop With Mercado Libre

Learn how global beauty brands can enter Latin America with nocnoc and Mercado Libre and strengthen their global selling strategy.

LATAM Opportunity

To start, let’s look at the size of the opportunity.
Five countries—Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile—represent over 90% of Latin America’s e-commerce market. The region has more than 351 million online shoppers, with Brazil standing out as a major global player.

Brazil is one of the world’s largest beauty markets and the second largest in beauty consumption. Beauty products—makeup, fragrances, skincare—are part of daily life and are strongly associated with wellness and self-care.

Across Latin America, beauty remains one of the most dynamic and high-growth categories in e-commerce. The category is growing at a 5.2% CAGR, and to dive deeper into what’s driving this growth, I’ll hand it over to Xime from Mercado Libre.

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Mercado Libre Presentation (Xime)

Xime:
Thank you, Ceci, for the introduction.
Hello everyone, and thank you for being here.

I’m Ximena Salas from the Cross-Border Trade team at Mercado Libre for Colombia and Chile. I’m excited to share how you can successfully grow your beauty sales both on our platform and across Latin America.

Before we get into the category, here’s a quick look at who we are.
Mercado Libre’s mission is to democratize commerce and financial services, creating opportunities for people and businesses of all sizes. Our ecosystem enables companies like yours to buy, sell, advertise, ship, and access credit both online and offline.

We operate marketplaces, first-party stores, a logistics network (Mercado Envíos), digital advertising, and our fintech arm, Mercado Pago. After 25 years in the market, we’ve grown to over 75,000 employees and are listed on the NASDAQ 100.

Now, a quick snapshot of our scale over the last 12 months:

• USD 19.1B in net revenue
• 94 million unique buyers
• USD 50.4B in GMV
• 1.68 billion items sold
• 1.7 billion items shipped through Mercado Envíos

These numbers highlight the size of the opportunity for sellers expanding into the region.

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Beauty Category Insights

Let’s focus on beauty. This category is one of the strongest drivers of growth in our ecosystem and continues to gain relevance.

Why beauty?

• High engagement: Shoppers spend twice as much time browsing beauty listings compared to other categories, which creates more opportunities for brands.
• Generic searches dominate: About 70% of searches are generic rather than brand-specific. This opens a major opportunity for international brands to build visibility and capture demand, even if local brand awareness is still low.

This creates a unique environment where brands can win attention based on product quality, ratings, and positioning—not just historical brand recognition.

The Digital Era Driving Beauty E-commerce

We’re living in a digital-first world where social media directly shapes buying behavior. Platforms are filled with content about:

• skincare routines
• fragrance trends
• premium shower rituals
• haircare tips
• glow-up essentials

These trends have deeply influenced demand across LATAM marketplaces, and we clearly see this impact reflected in beauty category performance at nocnoc.

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Beauty Category Performance: Strongest Growth on the Platform

The beauty category has been one of the fastest-growing verticals on nocnoc, fueled by viral trends, brand discovery, and strong consumer demand.

Category Growth Highlights

• Record-breaking performance during November, including Black Friday and El Buen Fin
• Exceptional year-over-year growth across multiple subcategories
• Beauty represented a significant share of total sales during peak season

During Black Friday 2024, sales doubled compared to 2023, and the beauty category alone grew by 600% year-over-year, representing 65% of total Black Friday sales.

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Top-Performing Beauty Segments

Based on nocnoc marketplace data, three segments dominate beauty sales in LATAM:

1. Fragrances

Fragrances account for the largest portion of beauty GMV.
Key trends include:

• Massive year-over-year growth
• Arabic perfumes, representing 60% of fragrance sales, remain one of the strongest ongoing trends since early 2024

2. Hair Care

Hair care continues to rise, supported by the popularity of styling tutorials and TikTok-viral products.

Top performers include:

• Hair growth oils
• Finishing and styling products
• Viral-brand tools
• Professional hair treatments

3. Skincare

Skincare shows consistent growth powered by ingredient-driven trends. Popular items include:

• Serums
• Face oils
• Products formulated with active acids beneficial for the skin

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Key Seasonal Sales Events for Beauty Brands

Several major shopping events are coming up, each representing a strong opportunity for beauty brands entering LATAM:

• February – Valentine’s Day
• May – Hot Sale in Mexico + Mother’s Day across LATAM
• June – Brazilian Valentine’s Day (Dia dos Namorados)

These dates consistently drive significant increases in demand for fragrances, skincare, and hair care.

Advice for Beauty Brands Looking to Start Selling in Latin America

When asked what guidance she would give to brands entering the Latin American beauty market for the first time, Flor emphasized that the journey starts with building the right connections. Simply joining workshops and conversations like this one is already a step in the right direction, she said. Connecting with key platforms and partners—whether it’s KNN, Mercado Libre, or others—is essential.

From there, reliable inventory and trustworthy vendors become critical. Brands need partners who can guarantee authentic products and consistent stock availability. “You want to avoid cancellations at all costs,” she noted. That reliability is the foundation for sustainable growth.

Flor also highlighted the importance of operational excellence, especially consistency in delivery times and order accuracy. Reputation matters across every marketplace, and beauty buyers are especially sensitive. Unlike electronics, beauty purchases often repeat monthly—or even weekly. “More than 50% of our customers are repeat buyers,” she shared. “If they have a good experience the first time, they keep coming back. But one bad experience can lose a customer forever.”

Another key factor is understanding consumer trends. Beauty shoppers in Latin America follow what’s trending on TikTok, Instagram, and the latest global launches. Staying aligned with those trends helps drive demand.

Finally, Flor stressed the importance of proper packaging. Beauty products—especially premium items—must arrive intact. “If someone waits 10 days for an $80 palette and it arrives damaged, it’s disappointing. Packaging needs to ensure the product arrives safely.”

Her final takeaway:
Start with the right partners, build a solid inventory strategy, and focus on delivering the best customer experience possible. “If you do that, customers will keep buying from you—and your network will grow.”

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Is Latin America Worth the Effort?

One audience question addressed the challenges of selling in Latin America: With so many obstacles, is it still worth it?

Flor didn’t hesitate: “Yes—100%.”

Every market has challenges, she said, but the rewards outweigh them. Her company has grown consistently for five years, proving the potential. While occasional returns are part of the business, the vast majority of customers are satisfied and return to purchase again.

Platforms like nocnoc also help simplify the process. They manage the complexities of cross-border selling—last-mile delivery, listing optimization, customer support, marketplace visibility, and more—so sellers can focus on their products.

“You’re not alone,” Flor added. “When you work with platforms like this, you have support every step of the way. There’s always someone you can turn to.”

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Should Beauty Brands Sell on More Than One Marketplace?

Another question asked whether it’s worth enabling more than one marketplace, given Mercado Libre’s size.

The response leaned toward yes. While Mercado Libre is the largest, expanding into multiple marketplaces gives sellers greater reach, increases their visibility, and unlocks new customer segments across the region. For growing brands, multi-marketplace expansion is often a key part of scaling in Latin America.