Focus on Brazil, leading Latin America’s digital revolution
Let the Games begin
[Article published in The Review (Autumn 2009)]
Rio’s successful bid for the 2016 Olympics is the icing on the cake for dynamic Brazil, which is leading Latin America’s digital revolution
The
2008 Beijing Olympics became as much a showcase for China’s technological
advances as for its athletes – and the 2016 Games will offer a similar opportunity for Brazil. While cutting-edge technology may be more traditionally
associated with Tokyo’s glittering skyscrapers and frenetic pace than with Rio
de Janeiro’s sandy beaches and laid-back lifestyle, Brazil already leads Latin
America in technological take-up.
Gerson Rolim, executive director of camera-e.net, is one enthusiastic proponent of technology in Brazil. Founded in 2001 as the Brazilian chamber of eCommerce, camera-e.net’s objective is to foster the use of Internet technology as a strategic tool for the country’s economic development. And with good reason: eCommerce is big business for the country. A massive 44% of all Internet commerce in Latin America originates in Brazil, according to Rolim. Mexico comes in a distant second, with 15%.
Brazilians are such enthusiastic online shoppers that there is even a huge annual web ‘blowout’ sale devoted to Internet-only shopping, in which dozens of retailers offer deep discounts to customers who pay by MasterCard.
The idea was hatched seven years ago and has proved extremely successful. Rolim says that it is a great example of what can happen when merchants and companies come together “and try to come up with ways to make the marketplace bigger for everybody”.
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