Against retail trends, e-commerce revenues double on “Sweetheart’s Day”

E-commerce sales on this year’s Sweetheart’s Day (June 12) — the Brazilian version of Valentines’ Day — rose by 115.8 percent this year to BRL 6.45 billion, according to research by retail market consultancy Compre&Confie.

The data brings some relief after grim perspectives for brick-and-mortar sales on what is one of the most important days on the retail calendar. But even though online purchases have been picking up during social isolation — in what experts see as an irreversible trend in Brazil — the impacts of Covid-19 on the economy as a whole remain severe.

Retail sales in April, the first full month with social isolation in place, plunged by 16.8 percent against March, the worst performance on record, according to the latest data by the national statistics bureau IBGE, published on June 16.

• #business
• #crisis
• #outbreak