B2C & C2C online sales revenue in Argentina 2014-2021

In Argentina, consumer-to-consumer (C2C) online sales revenues amounted to more than 114 billion pesos in 2021. That is almost double the figure recorded a year earlier and over three times that of 2019. Meanwhile, business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce sales brought in approximately 1.4 trillion Argentine pesos, up 68 percent from the previous year. In 2021, total online sales in Argentina generated more than 1.5 trillion pesos.

Growth despite adversity

A sky-high inflation rate and the currency depreciation against the U.S. dollar have affected all economic sectors in Argentina. Despite seeing its purchasing power affected by these conditions, Argentina is forecast to be the second-fastest-growing e-commerce market in Latin America in 2022, just behind Brazil. Much of this increase is due to the country's high e-commerce penetration rate, where three-quarters of the population already shop online.

Mercado Libre: Argentina's e-commerce golden child

Argentina is home to Mercado Libre. First launched in 1999, the platform has grown to be the leading e-commerce site in Latin America. In Argentina, however, its popularity reaches another level. There, Mercado Libre holds a monopoly over the market, accounting for over 80 percent of the web traffic to marketplaces in 2021. Although Brazil generates more than half of Mercado Libre's revenue -not least because of the size of its market- Argentina and Mexico are taking an increasingly larger slice of the pie. In 2021, revenue for Mercado Libre in Argentina amounted to about 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, up from 980 million a year earlier.