eCommerce and Payment Trends: Brazil

Rapyd research reveals the most popular payment methods in Brazil and how Brazilians prefer to shop and pay.

Brazil’s massive population of young, tech-savvy buyers offers vast growth potential for international businesses looking to expand their operations. As new technologies like instant Bank Transfers continue making both ecommerce and in-store payments easier and more convenient for shoppers, businesses will need to make sure they are offering the right payment methods and technologies to meet the evolving expectations of consumers in Brazil. 

To help our clients attract and retain customers and grow their businesses cross-border, Rapyd conducts an annual survey of consumer payment and purchase behaviors in Latin America, Europe and the Asia Pacific. 

Our data reveals insights into Brazilians’ preferences for accepting and receiving payments, the way payment technology has evolved in Brazil and consumers’ online shopping preferences.  The survey was conducted in June 2022 and covered Latin America’s largest markets, including  Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. All respondents are online shoppers who shop online at least once a month and are involved in purchase decisions in their households.

Key Insights: Brazilians Prefer to Shop on Mobile and Pay with Bank Transfers.

One-third of Brazilians reported shopping online weekly on a mobile device or their computer. Top items they shopped for online include fashion, beauty and groceries. Brazilian shoppers favored mobile shopping over computers in every category.

Bank transfers with Pix were the most popular way to pay for online purchases. Pix is an instant payment platform developed by the Brazilian Central Bank that has grown significantly since launching in 2020. Adoption was driven by the pandemic, Pix’s purposeful and non-bureaucratic approach, and the ease of making Pix mobile payments with zero transaction fees.

Weekly Online Purchases by Channel

We asked Brazilian consumers which devices they had used to make online purchases in the past week. 

31% Mobile
27% Computer

Tech Adoption In Brazil

As part of our annual study of payment and payout preferences, purchasing habits and financial product adoption in Latin America, Rapyd asked Brazilians how they saw their own openness to adopting new technology. We found that the majority of Brazilians see themselves as being either early adopters or part of the early majority. This aligns with the types of apps and payment methods we see Brazilians using. New bank transfer apps have quickly become the most popular payment methods, and Brazilians continue to migrate from cash and cards to alternative digital payments.

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The Most Popular Payment Methods in Brazil for Online Purchases

We asked Brazilian consumers what payment methods they had used for online purchases in the past month. We also asked them which payment methods they preferred to use. The data below shows a strong correlation between their most used payment method (Pix bank transfers) and the payment method they like to use the most (also Pix). However, the next most frequently used payment methods, debit and credit cards show a decline in popularity. This suggests that merchants have an opportunity to improve their checkout experience, reduce cart abandonment and build customer loyalty by adding bank transfers as a payment option at checkout. 

Cash continues to decline in popularity in Brazil. eWallets like Google Pay and Apple Pay may be suffering from the convenience and low fees offered by the Pix payment system. It is also notable that Bitcoin, while still a relatively infrequently used payment method, was used more than Apple Pay or gift cards.

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• 56% of Brazilians used bank transfers in the past 30 days
• 36% of Brazilians ranked bank transfers as their favorite way to pay, the best-performing method in our survey
• Debit and credit cards were the next most commonly used payment methods with 54% and 51% of Brazilians reporting that they had used them in the past 30 days

What Brazilians Are Buying Online

When asked what types of eCommerce purchases they had made in the last 90 days, consumers in Brazil reported making online purchases in the following categories. 

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• 69% of Brazilians purchased clothing, shoes and accessories online in the last 90 days
• 60% of Brazilians reported buying beauty and cosmetic products online in the last 90 days
• 53% of Brazilians bought groceries online in the last 90 days

How Brazilians Prefer to Pay for In-Store Purchases

When asked what payment methods they had used to pay for purchases made in physical brick-and-mortar stores in the last 30 days, the methods reported were very similar to those used for online purchases. Pix was the most frequently used and the most popular method. The big exception here was cash. Predictably, cash was much more common for in-store purchases, although its use is still on the decline. Brazilians expressed a strong preference for using other payment methods whenever possible. 

Many merchants prefer cash because it helps them to avoid card-payment transaction fees. However, with the convenience of instant bank transfers made with zero fees, all merchants would be wise to accept Pix at their physical retail locations. Moving away from cash can help protect merchants from theft while offering their customers a faster and easier checkout method. In the post-pandemic era, many customers worry about the cleanliness of cash as well. 

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• Pix bank transfers are now the most common form of payment for in-store purchases –  used by 55% of Brazilians in the last 30 days according to our survey
• 51% of Brazilians in our survey reported using debit cards in-store in the last 30 days
• Cash remains a common payment method for instore purchases with 45% of respondents reporting that they has used cash recently
• Only 8% of respondents reporting preferring to use cash in store

How Brazil Gets Paid

Accepting payments in Brazil isn’t the only consideration for businesses. Many businesses operating in Latin America also need to consider how their workers, partners and suppliers and individuals prefer to receive payments. Using our primary research, Rapyd has compiled country-level research on the most used and preferred payout methods in Latin America. 

Types of Payouts Made to Brazilian Consumers

The following chart illustrates the most popular reasons Brazilians report receiving payouts from businesses.

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• 54% of survey respondents reported receiving payouts for salary, wages and tips
• 36% received payouts for freelance and gig economy work
• 28% received payouts for product and service rebates

How Brazilians Receive Funds

This chart shows the most common ways Brazilians receive disbursements based on the payout type. 

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• Bank transfers are the most common way for Brazilians to receive funds for all use cases except personal gifts and government aid
• Cash is still the most popular way to receive a personal gift or government aid, but bank transfers are gaining ground 
• Cash is the second most common way to receive funds in Brazil

Which Disbursement Features Matter Most to Brazilians?

When it comes to the way businesses send money to Brazilians, the most important feature is security followed closely by speed. Brazilians want to receive payments quickly. However, almost half of all Brazilians surveyed rated all of the features we tested as being important. So, businesses need to use disbursement methods that offer security, speed, low fees, notifications and the ability to receive funds in local currencies.

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• 76% of survey respondents in Brazil ranked “keeping my personal data safe” as extremely important 
• 59% said receiving payments the same day was extremely important
• 50% said having funds available for immediate use was extremely important