E-Commerce improves in Chile despite difficulties in locating supplier information
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Chile´s Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism published data from the June, 2012 E-Commerce Monitor which aims to disclose security measures and information on transactional websites in order to establish minimum levels of information that must exist in online transactions. To that end it studied the 33 largest sites operating in the country (11 retail sites, 13 discount club sites, and 9 technology sites). The report analyzes 4 variables: Supplier identification, transaction data, privacy policies, and website security.
Based on these parameters, first place among retail companies would go to Corona – La Polar, followed by Falabella, Paris, Fashion´s Park and Ripley. Cuponium ranks first among discount clubs and websites, and Club Poont, Save My Day, Cuponatic and Groupon tie for second place. Third place goes to Boomtang, and ClubVenta, ClickCupon, Letsbonus and Pez Urbano take fourth; followed by Ganeselo and DivinoDescuento in fifth place. Dell, HP and Canon share the top rank in e-technology websites, and Sony and Reifschneider take second place, followed by Packard Bell, Apple, PC Factory and Nikon.
It seems that although the monitored information can largely be found on different websites, it has to be taken from different pages on each site, making it very hard to find. Therefore, they recommend that suppliers adopt the policy of assembling all relevant information on a customer service or customer support space that figures prominently on the website and is user friendly.
The report notes, among other things, that e-commerce has become standardized in Chile, which brings new challenges in terms of consumer protection, information and education. According to the Santiago Chamber of Commerce (CCS), more than 2 million Chileans shop online, and spend over $ 400 million a year. This growth is accompanied by an increase in the percentage of Internet users and the country´s Internet connectivity index. In the year 2000, the percentage of Internet users was 18%, and by 2010 it had reached 52% of the population. Of those users, 35% shop online, while 60% window shop online before buying.
Companies on the other hand, have also launched e-commerce business strategies. In 2003 only 25% of companies had a website. By 2010 that figure would reach 47%, and on average, around 20% of those were transactional websites.
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