Number of digital transactions in Colombia 2017-2021

The number of online transactions has grown steadily in Colombia in recent years. In 2021, approximately 272 million digital transactions were completed in the South American country, up 49 percent from the previous year.

Opportunity in adversity

The e-commerce market in Latin America is gaining increasing traction among the population, which has resulted in region-wide competition to meet consumer demand. In 2021, Colombia retained nearly seven percent of the Latin American e-commerce market, still far behind front-runners Brazil and Mexico, each holding more than 29 percent of the market share. However, the coronavirus pandemic that caused damage to a wide range of industries acted as rocket fuel for e-commerce, positioning Colombia as one of the countries with the highest online retail sales revenue growth in the region in 2020 and 2021.

Stay and spend from home

As countries implemented lockdowns and self-isolation procedures, people built greater reliance on online shopping and retailing. In 2021, the Argentina-based e-commerce marketplace, Mercado Libre, was the most popular e-commerce website in Colombia. As of September that year, the platform had attracted approximately 172 million visits to its site, surpassing online retail giant Amazon. With restaurants forced to close their doors due to the COVID-19 outbreak, at-home food delivery services filled the gap in the market. By 2021, Colombia had an estimated eight million online food delivery users, a 34 percent increase from before the crisis.