Drilldown into Peru’s E-Commerce Market

Key numbers for payments and e-commerce professionals to better understand this rapidly growing market

Andreas Farge

Director – E-Commerce And Payment Methods Specialist

Despite only a modest growth in GDP forecasted for Peru in 2023, e-commerce is still expanding significantly in Peru. According to the Cámara Peruana de Comercio Electrónico (Peruvian Chamber of E-commerce or CAPECE), e-commerce grew by 30% in 2022 to reach US$12.1 billion. This data comes from the Observatorio Ecommerce 2022-2023, a CAPECE report. While the organization has not yet made the report available for wide-scale distribution, it did share some of the highlights of the report in an online event held in May 2023, such as: 

• 15.6 million Peruvians (46% of the population) made e-commerce purchases in 2022
• More than 330,000 businesses in Peru engaged in ecommerce in 2022 (up from 300,000 in 2021)
• 94,000 businesses in Peru have transactional websites
• E-commerce in Peru represents 4.8% of overall retail in the country

Below we highlight some key data from PCMI’s 2023 E-Commerce Data Library and other sources in order to offer financial services, marketing and ecommerce professionals an understanding of Peru’s e-commerce market in 2023.

2023 Growth Forecast for E-Commerce in Peru

Driven by our proprietary methodology (which includes transactional data to maximize accuracy), PCMI projections indicate that e-commerce in Peru will grow by 32% in 2023.

PCMI further forecasts that Peru’s e-commerce market will grow with a CAGR of 35% between 2023 and 2026 to reach a total volume of US$63.1 billion.

While this overall picture is important, focusing on Peru’s online consumer behavior delivers a deeper understanding of the market drivers.

How They Buy

According to PCMI’s E-commerce Data Library, the primary payment methods that will be used by e-commerce shoppers in Peru in 2023 are:

• Internationally-enabled credit card: 18%
• Debit card: 45%
• Cash vouchers: 19%
• Digital wallet: 11%
• Domestic-only credit card: 2%
• Bank transfers: 2%
• Buy Now Pay Later: 0%

CAPECE’s data regarding e-commerce payment methods in Peru differs from PCMI’s, as does its methodology. The organization reported that these were the primary payment methods used in Peru’s e-commerce market in 2022:

• Debit card: 57%
• Credit card: 41%
• Cash transfers: 2%

CAPECE’s 2021 report offers a more detailed breakdown of payment methods for that year:

• Credit cards: 34.5%
• Debit cards: 33%
• Digital wallets: 21.5%
• Cash vouchers: 7.5%
• Bank transfers: 3%

Another key aspect of the purchase process is the device used. According to PCMI:

• 36% of Peruvians make e-commerce purchases using a desktop
• 64% of Peruvians make e-commerce purchases using a mobile device

Historical data from PCMI (included with the purchase of to PCMI’s E-commerce Data Library for one country or multiple countries) shows that the percentages were much different in 2018, with 56% of e-commerce purchases in Peru being made with a desktop and 44% with a mobile device.

CAPECE data indicates that in 2022, 71% of Peruvians used mobile phones for ecommerce shopping, while 27.5% used laptops and 1.1% used tablets.

What They Buy

CAPECE, unlike other organizations, does not list the top 5 or top 10 product categories sold in Peru via e-commerce. CAPECE’s 2021 report and the shared highlights of its 2023 report focus more on the growth of industry verticals within Peru’s ecommerce market. For example, CAPECE indicates that in 2022, travel/tourism ecommerce in Peru grew by 120%, retail grew by 9.5% and digital services grew by 21.8%.

ECommerceDB also reports on Peru’s ecommerce data and while it does not focus on product categories, it does indicate the revenue share of different verticals, such as:

• Electronics and media accounts for 30.4% of e-commerce revenue in Peru
• Food and personal care accounts for 25.2% of e-commerce revenue in Peru
• Furniture and appliances accounts for 18.3% of e-commerce revenue in Peru
• Toys, Hobby and DIY accounts for 15.3% of e-commerce revenue in Peru
• Fashion accounts for 10.7% of e-commerce revenue in Peru

What They Do

Data from the Cámara de Comercio de Lima offers some insights into behavior and preferences among Peru’s e-commerce shoppers:

• 75% of Peruvian ecommerce shoppers make a purchase at least once per month
• Top 5 reasons for shopping online include pricing/special promotions (65.7%), the ability to compare prices before buying (55%), better product selection (50.8%), the comfort of shopping from home 48.4%) and saving time (45.6%)
• The products that Peruvian e-commerce shoppers search the most for online include technology (50.6%), clothing and accessories (48.5%), household products (40.7%), travel (36.5%) and food for home delivery (30.5%)

Go Further

While the data shared here can be helpful, both payments companies and ecommerce companies may benefit from a deeper dive into Peru’s e-commerce data, which they can obtain by acquiring the PCMI E-commerce Data Library for Latin America.

The Library covers not only Peru but also 14 other countries in Latin America, featuring e-commerce market data such as:

• Historical volume of Peru’s e-commerce market for 2022, 2021 and further back
• Projections of Peru’s e-commerce market volume for 2023-2026
• Breakdowns by merchant vertical for e-commerce in Peru: retail, travel, ride-hailing, digital goods and services like streaming
• Data on both cross-border and domestic e-commerce purchases in Peru for 2022 and projections for 2023 and beyond
• Breakdowns and projections of payment methods used in Peru e-commerce (international/domestic credit cards, Buy Now Pay Later, digital wallets, Pix and much more

And much more.

But other key advantages make the PCMI E-commerce Data Library for Latin America a uniquely powerful tool for companies that seek a fuller understanding of e-commerce in the region:

1. It’s customizable to client needs: you can obtain additional data you need for your company’s specific business concerns, beyond what the Library offers
2. It’s budget-friendly: while detailed reports are available for 15 Latin American countries, you can just buy data on just 1 or save money by purchasing a country bundle
3. It includes personalized guidance: every purchase of the Library entitles you to a free 1-hour consultation about the data with one of PCMI’s industry experts
4. It offers unlimited sharing: there is no single-user license with the PCMI E-commerce Data Library for Latin America, so you can share it freely with your organization

Next Steps

Contact us to find out more about what the Library offers, how we can customize it to your needs and how you can purchase it.