Brazil’s payment world
04/11/2018In the world of payments, each country has its particularities. Brazil is no exception.
To sell your products and services online, you need to understand Brazilian shopping habits and the main payment methods in Latin America’s largest country. Not properly understanding how payments work in Brazil can result in a major lost opportunity: tens of millions of e-shoppers beyond your reach.
In the Netherlands, 74% of transactions are carried out using direct debit systems. In Russia, out of every ten people, four pay with cash and only two use credit cards. In Japan, although cards enjoy good penetration, 17% of people use the exclusive payment systems offered by the konbinis, as are called the hundreds of thousands of small convenience stores that are very popular in the country.
Not all countries are dominated by credits cards like the United States. With the favorable global environment for online sales, you have to study on a case-by-case basis the world’s major economies and their payment methods.
Brazilian payment methods
Brazil and its 210 million people cannot be ignored by international websites, since the country accounts for 40% of e-commerce transactions in Latin America. In this country of continental dimensions, there are particularities both in transactions involving cards and in other more unusual methods.
A company that fails to understand the system and does not have a partner specialized in local payment methods ends up foregoing millions of customers. Learn about Brazil’s main payment methods and particularities.
#1 Credit cards: local or international?
Credit cards are customers’ favorite method, with more than 70% of online transactions made using this option. Most use Visa cards (42%), followed by MasterCard (32%) and American Express (3%). However, this does not mean that this 70% can purchase goods and services from a foreign website. Two out of every three credit cards issued in Brazil are exclusively for local transactions.
This means that most cardholders can pay only using the local currency, the Brazilian real. For example, if they want to subscribe to a service offered by a cross-border site or make a payment in a foreign currency, they will be disappointed. Only credit cards enabled for international transactions can make online cross-border purchases. In Brazil, most cards do not have t