Brazil Overview

Latin America

Latin America has a population of 659 million, roughly equating to 8.5% of the total world population, with 24% of the population in the 0 to 14 age group. The GDP of the region varies significantly from a per capita GDP of $24,226 in Chile, through Mexico with $19,795, Brazil with $14,652 and down to Venezuela with $7,704. Compare these with, say, the United States on $62,530 or Germany with $53,919 and it is clear that the Latam economy has a long way to go. The pandemic has had a profound impact on Latin America, specifically on its retail industry. Mandated stay-at-home orders in several countries forced retailers to close physical stores, wreaking havoc on many companies’ bottom lines. Still, retailers’ and consumers’ warm embrace of ecommerce has been a silver lining. Retail ecommerce sales will grow 36.7% this year to $84.95 billion, nearly three times more than the 12.5% that was forecast pre pandemic. This impressive growth will also make Latin America the fastestgrowing regional retail ecommerce market for the first time, overtaking Asia Pacific.

BRAZIL - THE REINVENTION OF BUSINESS

A year after the pandemic paralyzed the world and gave us the feeling of being in one of those films that we follow only from a licensing point of view, we survived, didn’t we? And in such an adverse context, each territory experienced the consequences of its socioeconomic moments. In Brazil the challenge was huge. In addition to all the chaos of the first few months - fears, insecurities and deaths - we came across companies and businesses that were not prepared to sell online. As a result, with the lockdown, industry and retail realized that their relationship with the consumer was blocked. The scenario was clear: reinventing itself was needed urgently to survive economically. That is exactly what happened. Specialists claim that Brazil has advanced, digitally speaking, about seven years in six months of the pandemic. From accessible technology like WhatsApp to creating highperformance sales platforms, all methods were used to make sales come back. And, believe me, the consumer, especially those aged over 45 years old, had to learn to buy online. It was a collective movement. Many establishments closed permanently. Others opened in delivery formats. Some sectors such as toys, ondemand entertainment, pets and household items enjoyed a sales boom. Back to school, clothing and automobile segments are experiencing difficult times here. Speaking specifically in terms of licensing, the first few months of 2020 were very cautious; both in terms of property owners/agents and potential licensees. Contracts were cancelled, reevaluated and some business rules changed, such as minimum guarantee and royalty rates, in addition to deadlines. The boldest players decided to invest rather than give up and what we saw were some amazing licensed collections. Storytellings that made perfect sense at the time ended up inspiring other companies to use great characters. As a consequence, the opening and closing of stores began to bother people less; Brazil was, as a population, more prepared and less frightened. The country started to produce vaccines and today the calendar is ahead of the first forecasts. This excites us a lot. The political and economic scenario is far from good. But Brazilians are already hardened and have an immense eagerness for changes. From a marketing point of view and, specifically from a licensing point of view, business was reinvented. And Brazil continues to follow excellent launches with impressive sales results. After all, a good story is what we all need right now!

By Marici Ferreira @maricirosana is CEO at EP Grupo and Abral/Licensing International