BigCommerce, Mercado Libre Team As LatAm’s eComm Sector Grows

Amid a growing eCommerce market in Latin America, eCommerce software platform BigCommerce has teamed with Mercado Libre to let BigCommerce merchants sell in Latin America on Mercado Libre’s Marketplace, according to a Tuesday (July 20) announcement.

The arrangement represents Mercado Libre’s inaugural partnership with “a major North American eCommerce platform,” the release noted.

“As eCommerce continues to expand in Latin America, choosing BigCommerce as our first major platform partner is important for our long-term strategy and gives store owners access to this fast-growing market,” Jose Luis Hervás Fernández, director of cross-border trade for Mercado Libre LATAM (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia), said in the announcement.

Mercado Libre is accessible to BigCommerce merchants by way of the BigCommerce Channel Manager. Those merchants can expediently seek approval to begin selling in Latin America. They can then focus on selling their merchandise, tapping into “free currency conversions” and language translations that Mercado Libre offers, according to the announcement.

Mercado Libre sells in 18 nations in Latin America, and it has “global selling operations active” in Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Brazil and Argentina, according to the announcement.

In separate news, Etsy plans to purchase a Brazilian handmade marketplace in an action to grow Etsy’s reach more securely in the Latin American market, which the firm said is set for very sizable growth.

Etsy said in June that it will purchase Elo7 for $217 million in cash. Elo7 will still be based in Sāo Paulo, Brazil and will run as a standalone marketplace operated by its current management.

For Etsy, Elo7 is less about acquiring new clients and more about getting a foothold in Latin America, which Etsy CEO Josh Silverman said is “an underpenetrated eCommerce region where Etsy currently does not have a meaningful customer base.”

Elo7 Chief Executive Officer Carlos Curioni established the firm in 2008 and said that Etsy “has always been an inspiration and a reference.”