E-Commerce Times Talkback

Re: Latin American Portals Struggle with E-Commerce
Posted by: ECT News 2001-03-16 22:08:30

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Although consumer-oriented portals in Latin America play an "important role"
in converting Web users to online buyers, the majority of local and regional
portals still have a long way to go before they become a viable e-commerce
force, according to a new report released Thursday by research firm
International Data Corp. (IDC).

The report warned that the failure of portals to beef up their
online shopping capabilities -- and meet surging consumer
demand -- will have a chilling effect on the overall growth of e-commerce
in Latin America.

Re: Latin American Portals Struggle with E-Commerce
Posted by: Peter Kearney 2001-03-19 22:30:11 In reply to: ECT News

This is obviously saying there is a big opportunity for some bright entrepreneurs to fill the gap. Or is it?.

I am unfortunately ignorant of South America. Does the region suffer from major infrastructure problems,lack of will in Governments, lack of credit card ownership, banks that just don't get it, a culture that does not buy things in a non face to face environment ( I know this point has definitely slowed the take up of e-commerce in my home country Australia).

Any comments would be great. Having been involved in building e-commerce enabled portals, I'd love to know what's holding them back in South America.

Regards

Peter Kearney
www.ecompublishing.com

Re: Latin American Portals Struggle with E-Commerce
Posted by: Alberto 2001-03-16 22:15:43 In reply to: ECT News

The actaul IDC piece may be something quite worth to read, if only to confirm its inherently biased "ugly American" 1950's mentality, as proven by their reference to AOL Latin America as one of the leading players in the region!
If the authors of the study had taken off their cultural-bias blindfolds, maybe (I'm guessing here) they would have noticed that AOL Latin America represents less than 2% of all active web-access accounts, and only because they're counting the 33% of its users currently trying their service for free for 3 months!
C'mon: give US a break!