Business leaders in the Peruvian capital of Lima are expecting a steady increase in e-commerce in the Andean country, which still lags behind many other countries in terms of online business.
Octavio Sumaran, the commercial manager of the Lima Chamber of Commerce, said that he expects online sales to increase by 20 percent this year to $800 million, daily El Comercio reported.
Peru’s e-commerce represents just 1.5% of all online business in Latin America. In 2012, there were 11 million Web users in Peru and this is expected to reach 20 million by 2019.
Google Peru’s general manager, Gianfranco Polastri, said he expects online sales to grow 20 percent per year during this decade.
Polastri said that retail companies in Peru increased their online investments by 110 percent in 2012 and are expected to increase them by about the same amount this year as they bank on an increase in e-commerce.
Most of the online sales in Peru are in the tourism, entertainment and retail sectors.
Some numbers on eCommerce in Peru: http:// saltado. com/latam/peru-pe