Latam’s prominent ecommerce company Mercado Pago is further enhancing its digital payments engine to boost online sales amid the coronavirus pandemic. It is reported that ecommerce giant Mercado Pago is embracing Alibaba’s approach in finance.
Osvaldo Gimenez, Mercado Pago’s chief executive, told the media, “Many of the things we did were inspired by how they have worked in China. When we saw what Ant Financial had done with their investment fund, we replicated that with our investment funds in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.”
In fact, transactions on the Mercado Pago platform had more than doubled in the second quarter of the year. With that, the company is taking inspiration from Alibaba and its payment affiliate Ant Group for further developments.
Currently, half the population in Latin America do not have a bank account, but digital payment providers are emerging to tap into the existing market opportunities. For example, players like Uala and unicorns like dLocal and Nubank are strengthening their market presence with a host of digital payment options.
A report published by consultancy firm PayNXT360 found that the mobile payments market in Latin America is predicted to reach $302.7 billion by 2025, which is a significant increase from $50 billion in 2016. That said, MercadoLibre’s payments business is vast and the fact that the region’s market is growing exponentially has encouraged the company to focus on Chile and Colombia. Although making a shift from physical stores to online is a challenge for the region, there is a lot of scope for such businesses.