Mercado Libre Sells Record 20 Million Products in August as Argentina Recovers

Mercado Libre is witnessing a consumption recovery in Argentina amid a period of “profound economic transition.”

The Latin American eCommerce/FinTech platform announced Tuesday (Oct. 8) that it had sold a record 20 million products on its platform in August.

“While in the first months of the year the supermarket category and basic necessities were the only ones that showed year-on-year growth, from May onwards there was strong growth in nonessential product categories,” the company said in a news release.

These included technology offerings like notebooks (up 173%), tablets (up 91%) and televisions (up 59%) “leading the rebound in growth of units sold since January.”

In addition, Mercado Libre is increasing its lending to consumers, merchants and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) — including working capital and consumer financing — reporting a 69% increase year over year in September.

The adoption of credits for purchases of merchandise and investment is also on the rise, the release added. 

“The number of credits granted by Mercado Pago to SMEs and retail businesses increased by 62% year on year in September, reaching more than 125,000 SME users in the portfolio today,” the company continued, referring to Mercado Libre’s FinTech unit.

Data from Mercado Pago shows that interest-free installment financing, discounts and promotions had a positive impact on physical stores, which increased their QR code transactions by 68% year over year in September.

These developments are happening as Latin America is proving to be a crucial target for FinTechs hoping to transform financial services, as PYMNTS wrote last month.

That report used Mercado Pago as an example, as the company had just applied for a banking license in Mexico.

The company aims to become the largest digital bank in Mexico once that license is granted, following a period, where, as the company said, with “two years of successful operation as an Electronic Payment Funds Institution, which saw its user base quintuple and become one of the leading digital accounts in Mexico … our millions of users see us as their digital bank.” 

Brazil — another country where Mercado Libre does business — also illustrates Latin America’s appeal to FinTechs, PYMNTS wrote, seeing as how two-thirds of the populace owns smartphones and 63% of its people engage in digital banking.