Brazil e-commerce prepares for a tough year

The e-commerce segment in Brazil will see the lowest growth rates of the last 15 years in 2016, according to research.

It is expected that web-based retailers in the country will see a sales uplift of 8 percent this year as consumers cut down on spending due to the current recession, says the annual Webshoppers report, produced by local consulting firm E-bit.

In 2015, web-based sales of products and services in Brazil went up by 15 percent, with a total of 106,500 orders placed during the year.

Last year was the slowest in terms of growth since the consulting firm started tracking the market activity in 2000 - even though high street retail in the country has seen growth of only 3,2 percent.

However, this year's predictions are looking even worse for commerce firms: E-bit's initial forecast was 14 percent, but this was reduced as upper and middle classes will further restrict domestic budgets.