The marketplace that beat the big banks

The platform arrived in Brazil in 1999 when e-commerce was small and unstructured.

In this booming virtual retail environment, Mercado Livre has become a digital powerhouse and a giant in the world of brands

06/10/2022

Brazilian e-commerce is divided into two eras: before and after Mercado Livre. The platform arrived in Brazil in 1999 when e-commerce was small and unstructured. Under the command of executive Stelleo Tolda, considered the father of e-commerce in the country, virtual retail gained relevance and popularity. Searching, buying, and selling all kinds of products on the dot-com window has turned into something simple, safe, and trivial, especially during the pandemic.

In this booming virtual retail environment, Mercado Livre has become a digital powerhouse and a giant in the world of brands. In 2021, the company based in Argentina (Mercado Libre), which obtains most of its revenues in Brazil, crossed the unprecedented frontier of 1 billion products sold, an increase of 27.5% over the previous year.

Total transactions on Mercado Pago (the group's financial arm) amounted to US$ 77.4 billion, an increase of 55% in the annual comparison. In the same period, the total value of sales advanced by 36%, to US$ 28.4 billion. The company maintains 11 million sellers and over 69 million active buyers.

The numbers and the strength of the Brazilian operations made Mercado Livre win first place in the MOST VALUABLE BRANDS OF DINHEIRO ranking. For the company's senior vice president and country lead, Fernando Yunes, the company's ubiquity in Brazilian e-commerce explains the company's performance in recent years. "It is the result of more than 22 years of work focused on creating the best online shopping experiences for our customers, not only when it comes to products, but also about our purpose and values as a brand," he said.

Read the full story (in Portuguese).

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