What to know about Latin America’s retail media boom in 2024

in

This article originally appeared on EMARKETER’s blog. Click here to read this and other articles.

The trend: Retail ecommerce sales show no signs of slowing in Latin America. The region will once again maintain its status as the world’s fastest-growing ecommerce market this year at 15.8%—a rate nearly double the global average (8.8%), per our forecast.

  • Retail media ad spending in Latin America will triple in size between 2024 and 2028, rising from $1.84 billion to $5.45 billion, and representing 15.6% of the region’s digital ad market.

What’s driving the growth: Ongoing economic uncertainty in several countries is prompting consumers to seek out the best prices, promotions, and discounts possible, and many are primarily doing so on retailers’ digital properties.

  • Players like Mercado Libre, Amazon, and Walmart—to name a few—capitalized on these shifting behaviors and now rank among the most popular websites in each local market they operate.

  • With monthly user audiences now rivaling major publishers and social networks, retailers' owned and operated digital properties are an appealing, brand-safe destination for ad investment.

  • At the same time, diversified formats and sophisticated audience targeting capabilities allow the heavyweights to capture a greater share of upper-funnel ad budgets.

On the horizon: Although the majority of retail media ad spending is concentrated in the region’s two largest economies, Brazil and Mexico, several major retailers are making their ad offerings available in smaller yet lucrative markets, like Chile, Colombia, and Peru.

  • Last year, Walmart Connect launched in Chile and Central America, while Cencosud Media began operations in Peru and Brazil (adding to its presence in Chile, Colombia, and Argentina).

  • Pharmacy chains Farmatodo and Pague Menos also joined the growing list of category-specialist retailers in Colombia and Brazil to offer a retail media solution as of November 2023 and March 2024, respectively.

Expanded access will allow advertisers to reach qualified audiences in these more nascent retail media markets, all while providing retailers with new revenue streams.

Want the full story? Check out our new Latin America Retail Media Trends 2024 report.