Top 10 Online Marketplaces in Latin America for Selling Globally

Latin America is an attractive destination for international expansion, with a booming e-commerce market valued at 362 billion USD and growing by 25% annually. Marketplaces are crucial, accounting for over 80% of total e-commerce sales.

Unlike the United States, where Amazon dominates the market and sellers can capture a significant market share by exclusively selling on Amazon, Latin America has a more diverse market with hundreds of competing marketplaces. To gain a substantial market share, presence on multiple marketplaces is crucial. The eight largest marketplaces in Latin America contribute to over 50% of e-commerce sales, while the remaining half comprises dozens of other platforms. Hence, diversifying your sales channels is the ultimate strategy. By limiting yourself to just one or two marketplaces, you can expect to capture only 10-25% of the vast e-commerce market share.

In this article, we will explore the most important online marketplaces in Latin America that sellers should consider expanding into if they want to start selling cross-border in the region. We will also provide some guidance on how to get started to start selling on these platforms!

Mercado Libre

Mercado Libre is the leading e-commerce platform in Latin America, being present in 18 countries and receiving over 668 million visits per month. The strongest markets are Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia. The platform has more than 100 million active buyers and receives over 668 million visitors per month. The majority of users are from Brazil, which represents over 55% of total sales. Argentina and Mexico also represent a significant portion of Mercado Libre’s sales, with 25% and 15% respectively.

Since its founding in 1999, Mercado Libre has remained a pure-play online marketplace with no sales of its own. This marketplace provides a score to sellers based on various factors, such as successful sales, customer satisfaction, and cancellation rates. This system helps ensure that buyers have a positive experience while also allowing sellers to build a positive store reputation.

Americanas

Americanas is a Brazilian marketplace that was launched in 1999 by Lojas Americanas, the sixth-largest retailer in Brazil.

With more than 130 million monthly visitors per month, Americanas is the largest marketplace of the B2W group and the second-largest online marketplace in Brazil. Americanas has over 40 million different products that cover different categories. Some of the most popular categories are electronics & media, toys & games, fashion, as well as furniture & appliances.

Amazon

Amazon has a strong network due to its operations in Mexico and Brazil. This makes it a significant player in Latin American e-commerce but not on the scale of Mercado Libre, which has almost three times the traffic of Amazon.

Amazon Brazil

Launched in 2012, Amazon Brazil currently offers over 50 million products across 30 different categories and is one of the most popular marketplaces in Latin America, growing at a rate of 100% year on year. 

In 2019, Amazon opened fulfillment centers in Cajamar and Cabo de Santo and introduced Prime, the fastest-growing Prime program to serve customers in Brazil. A year later, Amazon added four new fulfillment centers in Cajamar, District Federal, Nova Santa Rita, and Betim, and increased the number of cities with two-day delivery for Prime members from 120 to more than 1,000 cities.

Today, it is the fastest-growing Amazon market globally, with over 35 million registered users and receiving more than 150 million monthly visitors.

Amazon Mexico

Amazon has been active in Mexico since 2013, initially offering e-books before beginning to operate as a retailer in June 2015. It is currently one of the fastest-growing Amazon markets in the world, approaching nearly 100 million visitors per month. Amazon Mexico offers a wide range of products, including electronics, clothing, beauty and personal care items, household goods, and more.

VIA Varejo

Via Varejo is Brazil’s second-largest marketplace conglomerate. It was founded in 2010, as a result of the joint venture made by Casas Bahia, Ponto Frio, and Extra. Today, it attracts more than 200 million monthly visitors. 

Founded six decades ago, Casas Bahía is one of the largest retailers in Brazil with 857 stores. Casas Bahia has a strong connection with all Brazilians and is recognized as one of the Top of Mind brands and one of Brazil’s most valuable brands.

Offering a wide range of products, Casas Bahia marketplace receives 150 million visitors per month and has one of the most popular apps in Brazil, with 50 million downloads. Key verticals include electronics, toys, household goods, and furniture

Ponto Frio is a Brazilian retailer that operates both in physical and online markets. Its marketplace is an online platform where third-party sellers can offer their products to Brazilian customers. The marketplace offers a variety of products across different categories, including electronics, appliances, furniture, and fashion. 

As a part of the Via Varejo Group, Extra has been exclusively operating in 1P and 3P eCommerce in the domestic market for 17 years. In 2013, Extra became the first eCommerce site in Brazil to offer a marketplace platform, strengthening its online position. To this day, the marketplace has over 38 million active users and more than 70,000 registered sellers. Key verticals include electronics, home appliances, toys and games, and furniture.

Magalu

Magalu, also known as Magazine Luiza, is an online marketplace that operates exclusively in Brazil. Founded in 1957 as a brick-and-mortar store, the company launched its e-commerce site in 1992, becoming one of the most popular online sites in Brazil. Today, it attracts over 100 million monthly visitors and offers a wide range of products across various categories, including electronics, home appliances, fashion, beauty, and furniture. Magalu is known for its customer-centric approach, with a strong focus on providing a seamless shopping experience for its customers.

Walmart Mexico

Walmart Mexico (Walmex) has positioned itself as one of the most reliable and popular online marketplaces in Mexico. Established in Mexico in 1991, today the Walmex marketplace receives over 80 million monthly visits and has more than 3,000 registered sellers offering a wide range of product categories, including electronics, toys and games, and household goods. Walmart Mexico participates in special shopping events like HOT Sale and El Buen Fin, driving sales for all registered sellers.

Carrefour

Carrefour is one of the largest retailers in Brazil with 640 selling points and 150,000 employees. The company launched its own marketplace in 2016, and since then, the online business has been the fastest-growing division of the group. Today, it receives more than 20 million visitors per month. Key verticals include electronics, home and decor, beauty, toys and games, and home appliances.

Coppel

Coppel is a major department store that operates through multiple channels, including physical stores and an online platform. They offer a wide range of products across various categories, such as home goods, electronics, appliances, and clothing. Coppel has been present in Mexico since 1941, with stores across all Mexican territories. Recently, their eCommerce platform has gained popularity, and online sales saw a significant increase of 300%. In 2022, Coppel partnered with nocnoc to create an exclusive channel for international sales in Mexico, allowing international sellers to offer their products to Mexican customers through its platform.

Buscape

Buscapé is a comparison shopping site that operates in Brazil and also operates as a marketplace where third-party sellers can offer their products.

Buscapé offers a wide range of products across different categories, including electronics, appliances, fashion, beauty, and healthcare. The platform has more than 10 million registered users and receives over 30 million monthly visits. Buscapé is known for its robust search engine which allows customers to easily find the products they are looking for, and its user-friendly interface that provides detailed product information, reviews, and ratings.

In addition to its online marketplace, Buscapé also has a strong presence in the mobile commerce market, with its mobile app being downloaded over 10 million times.

Mobly

Mobly is a Brazilian online marketplace that specializes in furniture, home appliances, and home decor products. The company was founded in 2011 and since then has become a major player in the Brazilian furniture market.

Mobly offers more than 250,000 products on its platform. Nowadays, it has various categories such as bedroom items, office supplies, pet supplies, appliances, small appliances, kitchenware, outdoor products, children’s items, lighting, and gaming line, among others. It has a strong online presence, with over 20 million monthly visitors and 3 million registered customers. 

How can I start selling in Latin American marketplaces as a global seller?

Some marketplaces pose greater challenges for entry than others. For instance, Mercado Libre and Amazon enable global sellers to create an account without the requirement of opening a legal entity in Latin America. However, there are others, such as Carrefour, that do require this step. Additionally, certain marketplaces like VIA, Americanas, or Magalu only permit cross-border sales if sellers collaborate with a partner, like nocnoc.

nocnoc has developed a comprehensive solution for brands and online retailers to initiate selling across 15 of the largest marketplaces in Latin America, eliminating the need to open individual accounts for each marketplace. By simply registering on nocnoc, sellers gain access to selling their products on nocnoc mega stores within these prominent marketplaces.

What is nocnoc?

nocnoc is the largest cross-border store in Latin America and the leading cross-border e-commerce facilitator for global brands and retailers looking to expand their business in Latin America’s largest marketplaces.

We enable global sellers to easily start selling on nocnoc’s mega stores across 15 marketplaces in Latin America through a single platform.

Selling through nocnoc’s stores guarantees that your products receive maximum exposure and visibility from day one. Our stores are already known and trusted by thousands of Latin Americans.

Start selling in Latin America’s marketplaces