The number of people buying and selling online is growing faster than the speed of light. Last year, people bought goods online for close to $601.7 billion.
You think that’s a lot, don’t you? Experts think that online sales will reach $4.5 trillion by 2021!
It’s not surprising that the U.K., U.S., and South Korea made the most purchases online last year. What’s surprising is that Brazil is spending more money online than ever before. They are now one of the eCommerce markets with the fastest growth in the world.
In the past, many dropshippers tried to sell goods in Brazil but failed because their mail service was so slow and unreliable. Politics have changed, so if you have an online store and never get any Brazilian customers, it’s time to start getting them, and we’ll show you how.
Benefits of Dropshipping
Dropshipping can be your best friend when it comes to eCommerce. Of course, you have to make sure you choose the right products and work with reliable suppliers. Both self-fulfillment and third-party logistics are better than dropshipping.
During self-fulfillment, everything is taken care of by the business or entrepreneur. Companies have to buy inventory, rent warehouse space, and pack and ship packages themselves.
Self-fulfillment is often quick and gives you the most control over your process, but it’s also the most expensive.
If you use third-party logistics, you have teamed up with another company to handle the orders. You buy products and keep them in the warehouse of a third party until someone places an order. Then, the third-party logistics company handles everything from picking up to shipping.
You still have to pay for inventory and logistics services from a third party, but you save a lot of time.
You get the best of both worlds with dropshipping. You find the products you want to sell and put them on your website. A dropshipping supplier takes care of the rest. You can relax and take the money.
This is great for small businesses just starting out with eCommerce. If you don’t have to pay for inventory or storage, you save money. You save time because once an order is placed, the dropshipper takes care of everything.
You are free to add to your product line or change it completely whenever you want.
Brazil’s Market is Massive
In Brazil, the number of people who buy things online is growing like crazy. 31.27 million Brazilians bought things online in 2013. Last year, that number jumped to 55.15, which is a huge increase.
Brazil’s Internet market is the biggest in Latin America, with close to 150 million users. It is the fourth most important country in the world.
The most money is spent on online shopping by Brazilians:
Electronics \sAppliances
Computers
Fashion \sCosmetics
Products for beauty
Appliances for the home
Home decor Pharmaceutical products
Things to clean with
Safety equipment
Travel services
Analysts think that almost a third of all eCommerce sales in Brazil in 2015 were for travel services. Brazilians also like sites and marketplaces that offer discounts for large groups.
If you’re thinking, “Okay, so why do I hear that dropshipping in Brazil can’t be done successfully?” We’re going to talk about the problems retailers have to deal with.
Challenges of Dropshipping in Brazil
Even though Brazilians like to shop online, they often only buy from Brazilian companies. This is because infrastructure and the government in Brazil make it hard to dropship.
Shipping to Brazil is hard in and of itself.
Brazil’s mail service is very unreliable and slow. It could take up to three months for a package to arrive, and it often gets lost.
On the other hand, international couriers aren’t always the best choice because they charge fees that can be as much as 100% of the shipping cost.
Either the shipper pays the fees and passes them on to your customer, or your customer has to go to the airport and pay customs themselves.
The other big problem is that the package can get stuck at customs for 30 to 180 days. Here are a few things that have caused such a long wait:
Improper documentation
Anvisa is the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency. Its job is to watch over the import of food, health products, cosmetics, and medicines.
MAPA is the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply. It is in charge of overseeing the import of goods made from animals and vegetables.
InMetro is the National Institute of Metrology, Standardization, and Industrial Quality. It makes sure that imported goods meet the standards for certification.
A tax inspector from the Brazilian Federal Revenue Forbidden Goods/Contraband
During the customs process, one of eight other government agencies has a smaller role. Because of these problems, a lot of dropshippers just don’t ship to Brazil at all. But that is changing because of a method called EuB or ePacket.
What is changed and why ePacket now it is working?
The situation I talked about before has changed a lot recently. Starting in September, the government will add a tax to all packages sent outside of the country. The Post Office will charge R$15 for every piece of international mail that comes to Brazil.
This new tax was a good way to get the Postal Service to get better, and it did. Now, the Chinese Postal Service ePacket can get a package from China to Brazil in an average of 25 days.
Many people don’t know what “e-packet” or “ePacket” means, so we’ll try to explain.
China is the largest exporter in the world, and the United States is its largest customer. The USPS saw that retailers and customers needed a way to send goods faster and for less money, so they made Commercial ePacket. This service is for shipping packages to and from China that are less than 4.4 pounds and worth less than $400.
There is also a service called ePacket Express from ChinaPost. It has the same basic idea as its American version.
You can ship to 36 countries with Commercial ePacket. ePacket Express goes to 39 countries. Both services take less time than traditional shipping to get to Brazil.
The Brazilian postal service works with EuB, which is a shipping method. Packages and parcels move faster through customs, getting through the process in 20 to 30 days. ePacket is now the main way to ship things to Brazil.
Beat Your Competitors Into the Brazilian Market
You don’t have to feel discouraged about dropshipping in Brazil ever again if the thought of it has ever scared you away.
Including Brazil in your process just requires some minor adjustments. Millions of dollars in online sales are now within your reach.
You’re ahead of the game because Brazil hasn’t fully capitalized on the potential of the international eCommerce market.