By Liz Elting

Business 2 Community - September 4, 2012

In the push toward international e-commerce, it’s important to recognize that some target markets are more attractive than others. As a global e-retailer builds its South American marketing strategy, one country leads its neighbors in terms of potential profitability: Brazil. According to Forrester Research, the Portuguese-speaking nation is Latin America’s largest e-commerce market by a hefty margin. Largely driven by mass-market consumers, Brazil is on track to capture $12 billion USD in Internet sales this year. There are indicators that this attractive market could become even more profitable for online businesses in the future.

What’s so hot about Brazil? Besides its Rio Carnival, Amazon rainforest, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, Brazil boasts these sizzling economic indicators:

• Brazil is the world’s sixth largest economy and the largest country in South America.
• More than half of Brazil’s metropolitan online shoppers have a monthly disposable income that’s equivalent to $2,000 USD, and even consumers with a lower disposable income still shop online frequently, according to Forrester Research.
• This year, Brazil’s e-commerce industry will grow by 21.9 percent, according to eMarketer.
• eMarketer also predicts that 2012 will see 23.2 million people – 34 percent of the country’s Internet users – buying goods online.
• Brazil has passed the early adopter stage in which e-commerce is dominated by books and media, consumer electronics, and computer hardware.

As Brazil’s taste for e-commerce intensifies, consumers are diversifying their online purchases. That creates an opportunity for retailers to attract new customers in the country via skilled language translation for e-commerce websites. Businesses with the means to localize and tailor messages and specifically to Brazilian audiences increase the likelihood of building lasting brand loyalty.

Brazil’s market is booming, and overseas exporters can participate if they coordinate their marketing, translation and localization efforts and establish international search engine marketing (ISEM) strategies before they build Brazil-facing websites. Brazil is already speaking the language of e-commerce. If international brands show as much aptitude for Brazil’s language and culture, there should be a lot of e-commerce success stories coming out of South America’s largest nation.