Analyzing the role of loyalty for recovering small and medium businesses (SMBs), PYMNTS researchers surveyed a census-balanced panel of over 1,100 Brazilian consumers as part of a global study of more than 4,500 consumers in four countries. What we found is that Brazilians stand out from other regions studied in important ways, starting with the fact that 65 percent of them believe it’s more crucial to shop local in 2021 than it was before the pandemic.
While researchers encountered strong local shopping sentiments in all regions studied, Making Loyalty Work for Small Businesses: Brazil Edition, a PYMNTS and Pollinate collaboration, found that 50 percent of all Brazilian consumers already shop at neighborhood stores. Where the region needs help is in the number and nature of loyalty programs offered by local SMBs.
Read more: Making Loyalty Work For Small Businesses: Brazil Edition
This excerpt focuses on that fact, as 55 percent of consumers in Brazil frequent SMBs in their communities, and close to 30 percent shop with local businesses more than they shop with any other type of retailer. “Local businesses are therefore just as integral to Brazilian consumers’ daily lives as either large, national mass merchants like Carrefour and Extra or online-only stores like Mercado Libre.” Brazil is different from other regions studied in this way.
To optimize SMB commerce in a country already predisposed to it, digital loyalty programs will need to make further inroads with Brazilian consumers. There’s still much to do on that front.
The study finds that just 16 percent of all Brazilian consumers who use at least one business’ loyalty program are signed on with local SMB loyalty programs, “making it the rarest type of loyalty program in the nation. This works out to just 13 million current users of such programs in a nation where 105 million consumers want to use them.”
It indicates a local loyalty opportunity for Brazilian SMBs that’s larger than any market studied.
On the issue of data and who they trust with it, consumers in Brazil see banks and financial institutions as having the resources and wherewithal to best manage this aspect of loyalty.
“Five times as many Brazilian consumers trust banks with their transactional data than trust local businesses with the very same data, with 51 percent saying they would trust banks to collect and manage this sensitive information. This puts banks at the top of the list of trusted institutions that local businesses could tap to power their loyalty programs and drive conversion,” per the Brazil findings.
See also: Making Loyalty Work For Small Businesses: Brazil Edition
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