Brazilians become more confident about m-commerce

Brazilians are becoming more confident about buying products and services via their mobile devices, according to recent research.

The Ipsos survey commissioned by online payments firm Mercado Pago with 450 Internet users suggests that some 45 percent have made some type of payment via smartphones in 2015. By comparison, only 21 percent had pay for something via their phones in 2014.

As well as the increase in payments, the survey also suggests that Brazilians feel safer using mobile phones to pay for items. According to the research, clothes and accessories is the top category when it comes to m-payments among those polled (59 percent), followed by mobile phones (56 percent).

Other categories such as electronics are also popular with m-commerce users (49 percent), as well as utility bill payments (45 percent). Conversely, categories that are not so popular, but were mentioned by users as being something they would potentially buy via their mobiles in future are food and drinks (23 percent), tourism services (20 percent) and education services (19 percent).

Separate research by consulting firm E-bit indicates that while mobile commerce continues to grow in Brazil, it is still a small slice of the online commerce pie: purchases made through smartphones and tablets represent only 9.7 percent of all e-commerce transactions processed in Brazil during 2014.