By Bianca Oliveira and João Marcelo
SAO PAULO – According to data from the Brazilian Electronic Commerce Association (AbComm), electronic commerce grew 68% in 2020 and moved R$ 126.3 billion (20.4 billion euros), consolidating a growth trend that was present even before the pandemic.
In an interview with Dire news agency, the president of the Italo-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, Graziano Messana, stated that the sector is a trend in Brazil and presents itself as an opportunity for major international brands.
The growth of luxury goods sold during the pandemic is noteworthy. According to the AbComm report released in April 2020, the sector that had the most increase was imported, with growth of 91.72%. On the Farfetch platform, the sale of jewelry and watches in Brazil grew 60% between the months of April and July 2020, and five BMW cars worth 1 million reais each were traded.
Another prominent sector that also represents the possibility of bilateral transactions is startups. Last month, these Brazilian companies received US$ 484 million in investments, a volume 35% higher than the same period last year and a milestone in the sector’s history, according to data from Inside Venture Capital, a report by the innovation company Distrito.
Messana claims that the size of Brazil’s market makes all the difference to the success of startups and the emergence of “unicorns”, a nickname given to startups that have reached a market value of at least US$ 1 billion.
I see a surprising market in Brazil and Italy has a very good technology park for startups. The problem is that Italy has a very small domestic market and the good startup here has a huge market, and this is the bridge that we have to encourage”, he explains.
“BRAZIL HAS NOT STOPPED”, SAYS PRESIDENT OF ITALCAM
“It was a very intense and very rich year. The pandemic changed the dynamics of business a lot, but the country did not stop. And Brazil, in fact, has a very interesting capacity to react to crises”, Messana said, evaluating business in Brazil during the last year, amidst Covid-19 pandemic.
In an interview with the Dire news agency, the businessman, who took over the presidency of Italcam in May 2020, explains that many companies reacted positively and continued to invest in the country even in the face of an unfavorable scenario. For example, the Intimissimi Calzedonia Group, which grew 400% during the pandemic. For him, the Digital Transformation process was key in this period.
“The big companies had made investments in Digital Transformation so they were able to stand out and take advantage of the pandemic by making important deals. At the Chamber, we carried out a project to help small and medium-sized companies accelerate this digitization process and place themselves in this world that has changed”.
Despite the complexity of the Brazilian market, the president of Italcam highlights different markets to attract foreign investors. In addition to retail, which has enormous potential as a consumer market due to the size of the country and its population, Messana also believes in the success of long-term investment.
“The retail market is attractive, Brazil is ‘sexy’ also when it comes to long-term investment, investment in infrastructure. We have 970 Italian companies in Brazil, 300 are machinery and equipment, so Brazil has this appetite”, he says.
Among the challenges for foreign investors, the entrepreneur draws attention to the legal uncertainty and understanding of the country’s tax system.
“There is a tax complexity, but there are solutions and this is information that has to be disclosed. Brazil is not a country that manages to receive investment in passing, it needs medium and long term. But what we question is a more effective legal security”,
MESSANA (ITALCAM): “ELETTRONICO E START-UP, CRESCITA RECORD”
SAN PAOLO DEL BRASILE – In Brasile il commercio nel settore elettronico è cresciuto del 68 per cento nel 2020, mettendo in movimento un volume di affari da 126,3 miliardi di reais, circa 20,4 miliardi di euro, e consolidando una tendenza di crescita che già si registrava prima della pandemia di Covid-19. A rivelarlo sono stati i dati dell’Associação Brasileira de Comércio Eletrônico (AbComm). In un’intervista con l’agenzia di stampa Dire, il presidente della Câmara Ítalo-Brasileira di commercio, industria e agricoltura, Graziano Messana, ha affermato che il comparto elettronico è ormai un fattore in Brasile e si presenta come una grande opportunità per le grandi compagnie internazionali.
“Per fare una proporzione, in Italia ci sono 60 milioni di abitanti, mentre il mercato in Brasile è composto da 120 milioni di utenti di internet, di cui circa 70 milioni comprano tutti i giorni almeno una cosa online”, dice Messana. “Questo significa che il numero di persone che compra quotidianamente online o tramite cellulare è la stesso del totale della popolazione italiana. La vendita al dettaglio in forma digitale quindi, non può che essere una tendenza interessante per il Brasile”.
A colpire è anche la crescita di articoli di lusso comprati durante la pandemia. Stando a un rapporto dell’AbComm nell’aprile 2020 questo settore ha fatto registrare una crescita del 91,72 per cento. Sulla piattaforma Farftech, la vendita di gioielli e di orologi ha fatto registrare un incremento del 60 per cento tra i mesi di aprile e luglio 2020. Tra gli articoli acquistati, anche cinque automobili della casa tedesca Bmw dal valore di circa un miliardo di reais cada una, l’equivalente di circa 162 milioni di euro.Un altro settore di rilievo che rappresenta anche una possibilità per transazioni bilaterali è quello delle start-up. Nell’ultimo mese, le aziende brasiliane di questo tipo hanno ricevuto una quota di investimenti di 484 milioni di dollari. Un volume questo, superiore del 35 per cento a quello dell’anno passato e un record per la storia del settore, stando ai dati dell’ Inside Venture Capital, un rapporto della società di innovazione Distrito.
Secondo Messana le dimensioni del mercato brasiliano fanno la differenza per quanto riguarda il successo delle start-up e l’emergere dei cosiddetti “unicorni”, un soprannome dato alle start-up che riescono a raggiungere un valore di mercato di almeno un miliardo di dollari. “Vedo un mercato sorprendente in Brasile e continua a leggere sul sito di riferimento