A survey by consultancy firm NIQ Ebit shows a 7.9 percent increase in Brazilian e-commerce sales in August — the second consecutive month of growth after struggles in the first half of 2023. NIQ Ebit’s monitoring encompasses transactions made on websites and apps.
E-commerce has had a difficult year so far, struggling to keep up with the remarkable growth of 2022. The number of Brazilians shopping online rose by 24 percent last year, but sales dropped 7.3 percent in the first six months of 2023.
The scenario over the last 12 months remains negative (-2.8 percent) but the positive results for July and now August indicate some form of recovery.
Experts put the poor performance in the first half of the year down to difficult macroeconomic conditions, citing the country’s sky-high benchmark interest rates. The Central Bank’s decision to begin a cycle of monetary easing may now see consumption heat up once more.
Two half percentage point cuts have seen Brazil’s benchmark interest rate fall to 12.75 percent and cuts of the same magnitude are expected at the year’s remaining monetary policy meetings.
Since November of last year, Brazilians’ average habitual real income has been rising faster than inflation. In more than a decade, the only time that happened was at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, when Congress approved an aid program to help vulnerable families survive during closures.
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