Most e-commerce activity in major retail events such as Black Friday in Brazil has taken place via smartphones, according to research on consumer trends online.

In November 2021, 67% of visits to e-commerce websites in Brazil happened via mobile devices, according to research by Brazilian SEO firm Conversion. The study noted that this trend gathers pace as fast mobile broadband becomes more accessible to Brazilian consumers in the largest e-commerce websites in the country. Mobile devices include tablets.

On the other hand, the study has found that a third of visits to e-commerce websites still take place via desktops. 

According to the study, online retailers focused on products for children have seen the greatest percentage of visits via smartphone devices (85%) versus 15% of visits via desktops. Another e-commerce segment where smartphones prevail in Brazil is cosmetics, which has seen 83% of visits via smartphones, with 17% of accesses taking place via desktops.

When it comes to the audience of major e-commerce websites in Brazil, the study noted visits in November reached just over 2 billion hits. The number represents a 17% increase in relation to October but a 16% decline when compared to November 2020, when the largest online shopping websites in Brazil totaled 2.39 billion hits.

Most online purchases in Brazil were made through smartphones since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to separate research by consultancy Ebit/Nielsen in partnership with Brazilian fintech Bexs. Of the 194 million purchases made in 2020, 55,1% were made through smartphones, according to the study.

The increasing reliance on m-commerce points to an accelerated consumer maturity process in Brazil driven by COVID-19, in relation to buying items online, specifically through mobile devices, the study has found.

Some 58% of Brazilians access the web only via smartphones, according to numbers from the research arm of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee. According to the research, the prevalence of smartphones to access the Internet suggests PC penetration remains low within financially vulnerable citizens.

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