PayU, the fintech and e-payments business of Prosus, today launches a report titled “The Next Frontier: the most promising markets for emerging e-commerce leaders in 2021 and beyond”, highlighting unprecedented consumer spending growth in e-commerce in high-growth markets that have often been overlooked before 2020 in favour of more traditional, Western markets.

The report examines four of the fastest growing consumer sectors where PayU sees the biggest growth potential over the coming years. It reveals that Latin America has the most promising and consistent growth trends and is set to become the new global e-commerce destination for Emerging E-commerce Leaders - fast growing online and omnichannel businesses looking to stand out in their sector. 

“There has never been a better time to be in e-commerce. Multiple factors: accelerated move to online shopping, mobile penetration, increased levels of internet access, and growing financial inclusion more generally, are driving consumers to shop online, while new regulations and innovations are further enhancing the security for consumer payments. This provides an unprecedented opportunity for growth in e-commerce for retailers around the world. Much of this opportunity is in the geographies where we operate. Conquering new markets will be critical for extending customer bases and capturing growth, particularly for online businesses based in more saturated mature markets.”  Mario Shiliashki, CEO, PayU Global Payments. 

Regions such as Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa as well as India and Southeast Asia, with increasing disposable income for certain population groups and growing both internet connectivity and mobile penetration, boast digitally savvy shoppers with strong demand for globally-sourced goods and services.

• PayU's data clearly indicates that Latin America is the place to be for any beauty and cosmetics merchant, with a regional growth rate of 133%. Meanwhile, data analysis showed that total online spend on beauty and cosmetics across the region reached nearly $3.8bn in 2020.

• Consumers in Chile and Argentina in particular gravitated towards digital goods in 2020, where spending increased by 211% and 131% respectively, according to PayU’s data. In Argentina, consumer spend in the sector is expected to reach $615m by the end of 2021. Any merchants specializing in digital goods should look towards Latin America as the next big frontier. 

• Certain African markets performed strongly, with Kenya and Nigeria seeing 42% and 32% year on year growth respectively in Digital Goods in 2020.

• Fashion and gallantry emerged as the sector with the highest consumer spend across every high-growth market. Annual consumer e-commerce spend in this segment is projected to be particularly high by the end of 2021 in India ($16bn) and Indonesia (>$9bn), followed by Russia, Poland, and Turkey (>$6bn) and Brazil and Mexico (>$5bn).

• Lockdowns across the world transformed the education sector, with remote learning and virtual courses becoming the norm. Mexico and Argentina showed the biggest increase in education spend on PayU’s platform between 2019 and 2020, standing at 139% and 138% respectively. 

• The average transaction value in Education for merchants working with PayU increased the most in South Africa across 2020, up by $136 on 2019 average transactions.

More interesting facts and insights from high-growth markets can be found in “The Next Frontier: the most promising markets for Emerging E-commerce Leaders in 2021 and beyond”, the global e-commerce report by PayU available here. 

Download the report to find out which overseas markets present the biggest opportunities in Beauty & Cosmetics, Digital Goods, Fashion & Gallantry and Education for emerging e-commerce leaders in 2021 and beyond.