Amazon Launches Prime Day In Mexico, Brazil

While Amazon‘s sales have been going well during the pandemic, it has found rivalry in Latin America from local competitors, Reuters reports.

Prime Day was rolled out for the first time in Brazil this year, and in that country as well as in Mexico, Amazon isn’t the powerhouse it is in other countries.

In Mexico, Amazon was second place in rankings behind Argentina-based MercadoLibre for eCommerce. And in Brazil, the company was fifth behind MercadoLibre and other big names in that region like B2W, Via Varejo and Magazine Luiza, according to the news report.

But Amazon is sticking with both markets, and Gloria Canales, head of marketing for Amazon in Mexico, said the company strives “to add selection, to improve shipping rates, to improve our payment methods. We’re confident that that’s what makes us successful.”

Just in time for Prime Day on Tuesday, Amazon debuted its first so-called fulfillment center in the Mexico City area, and others in Guadalajara and Monterrey, Reuters reports.

But despite the allure of a Prime membership, Gene Munster, managing partner of Loup Ventures, told Reuters that Amazon needed to work on its inventory and distribution in their areas.

“Undoubtedly it’s growing,” he said of the Prime program, according to Reuters. “But it’s not a question about growing, it’s about trying to keep pace with MercadoLibre.”

MercadoLibre was founded in 1999 and has seniority in the region, with a wide seller base and a greater understanding of how to succeed in that area of the world.

Prime Day came late this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but experts were watching it closely, calling it the “new Black Friday” because of its proximity to the holiday season and their interest in seeing how spending and activity are impacted by the chaos of the year’s events. The forecast for global sales is $10 billion.