Why Should Brands Sell on Mercado Libre?

For international brands and retailers seeking to boost sales in new markets, venturing into Latin America’s marketplaces is undoubtedly a promising choice. Now, let’s delve deeper into Mercado Libre: What exactly is this marketplace? Why should you prioritize its expansion? And how can you begin your journey here?

What’s Mercado Libre?

Mercado Libre is the largest marketplace in Latin America and one of the top 10 most visited marketplaces in the world. It has a presence in 18 countries and a consumer base of 74 million active users. Within Mercado Libre, users can act as both buyers and sellers, promoting a pure-play environment since Mercado Libre doesn’t conduct sales on its own.

Companies and brands can also establish official stores to promote their products, making them more noticeable compared to individual users who resell products.

Mercado Libre’s growth 

While Mercado Libre has been a popular platform since its early days in 1999, it wasn’t until 2016 that the platform began to experience continuous growth. Following the pandemic in 2020, Mercado Libre underwent tremendous expansion, with online sales increasing by 150% from 2019 to 2022, and maintaining an annual growth rate of over 22%. This platform’s growth can be attributed to the overall surge in e-commerce sales in Latin America, as well as the development of its own payments solution (Mercado Pago) and shipping solution (Mercado Envíos) which facilitated operations for hundreds of businesses and users.

The strongest markets for 2023 are Brazil and Mexico, which together account for more than 70% of Mercado Libre’s total sales. This year marks the first time that Mexico has surpassed Argentina, becoming the second-largest market.

Why International Brands Should Sell on Mercado Libre

In addition to diversifying your sales across multiple channels and enhancing your brand visibility in Latin America, there are other compelling reasons to consider selling on Mercado Libre, rather than just opting for Amazon Brazil or Amazon Mexico as your default choice.

Largest Marketplace in Latin America

Someone unfamiliar with Latin American marketplaces might assume that Amazon Brazil or Amazon Mexico should be their first choice for expanding to LATAM. However, Amazon represents less than 4% of the total retail sales in Latin America. This indicates that you should consider expanding to additional marketplaces. Mercado Libre presents a remarkable opportunity as it stands out as the strongest marketplace in countries like Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Colombia.

In the last year, sales reached a staggering 34.45 billion USD, and forecasts predict that by the end of 2023, this figure will grow to 40.91 billion USD.

Mercado Libre also distinguishes itself through its extensive user acquisition campaigns across various media, both digital and physical. Furthermore, it invests in user retention by offering coupons, discounts, and free shipping. If you come to LATAM, you’ll notice the prominent Mercado Libre signs on the busiest avenues!

Generating Brand Awareness on Mercado Libre

Besides Black Friday, Double 11, Cyber Monday, and Christmas, Mercado Libre hosts its own shopping events, such as HOT Sale, MELI Fashion, and MELI Beauty. The purpose of these events is to boost sales for specific categories during particular dates, helping all categories maintain robust sales volumes throughout the year.

Furthermore, sellers can pay for ads on Mercado Libre or offer discounts to feature their products on the “Deal of the Day” banners. All of this has helped brands generate awareness for their products and become more noticeable.

Mercado Libre official stores

Mercado Libre has 12 million registered sellers offering products within their stores. While it might seem challenging for an international brand to stand out from local competitors, Mercado Libre provides the opportunity to establish official stores and gain a competitive advantage. Official stores are easier to locate as they have a dedicated section within the marketplace. Additionally, they receive higher traffic and personalized support.

Building customer confidence on Mercado Libre

One of Mercado Libre’s primary objectives is to ensure that customers enjoy an excellent purchasing experience and feel confident in their buying decisions. Consequently, Mercado Libre employs a robust system to evaluate sellers and reward those who consistently ship products on time, promptly address consumer complaints, and exhibit respectful behavior towards customers, among other criteria.

When you start selling on Mercado Libre, your reputation will initially be marked as ‘gray’. Once you successfully fulfill your first 10 orders, Mercado Libre will assess your overall performance and assign a color to your reputation.

As an international seller, it’s important to recognize that your reputation is calculated separately for each marketplace where you operate. This means that you must uphold a positive reputation for each country individually.

Customers love shopping on Mercado Libre precisely due to this reason – they understand that sellers failing to deliver a satisfactory experience will face consequences in the form of a negative reputation.

How can I start selling on Mercado Libre?

There are two ways to start selling in Mercado Libre:

1. Selling in  Mercado Libre on your own

Mercado libre allows global sellers to create an account and list their products across 4 countries, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, receive payments in USD, and communicate with customers using a translation tool. 

Listing products in Mercado Libre is free. However, you’ll be charged a Selling Fee once an order is placed. This fee varies depending on the country: for Brazil, it’s a specific percentage; whereas for the other marketplaces, it depends on the product category. There are also other fees depending if you use Mercado Libre’s fulfillment services or not.

2. Selling on Mercado Libre with nocnoc – Easier and Less Risky!

nocnoc makes the process even simpler, allowing global sellers to list their products on Mercado Libre through nocnoc’s official store. This provides maximum exposure and a strong reputation right from day one. Additionally, nocnoc takes care of last-mile deliveries, cancellations, returns, taxes, translations, customer communication, and marketing campaigns.

nocnoc offers an all-in-one solution for global sellers willing to boost sales in Latin America.  Once you create a free account on nocnoc, we’ll analyze your catalog and optimize your listings for each market, publishing your products across +15 marketplaces to ensure maximum exposure right from the outset.

Sellers only need to ship their products to our US warehouse upon receiving a new order, and we handle last-mile deliveries, cancellations, taxes, and all communication with consumers in their local language, ensuring an exceptional experience.

We’ll assist you in increasing sales during special shopping events or seasons. We provide local expert advice and pricing analysis to ensure that you stand out from local competitors.

To begin your journey in Mercado Libre at no cost, sign up here, and a specialist will reach out to you.