Latin America (LATAM) is home to one of the fastest-growing mobile markets worldwide. In 2018, there were 326 million mobile web users in the region, which figure is anticipated to increase to over 422 million users by 2025. Part of the reason for such exponential development is that mobile is the main tool for web gain access in Latin America, providing a portable method for people residing in backwoods to get online. The social media boom and increase in messaging platforms in recent years have also spurred the need for enhanced mobile services.
As mobile penetration continues in LATAM, it is facilitating ingenious apps that promote opportunities for social movement, monetary control, access to abroad markets, and social development. And while a distinction in maturity levels and local guidelines dictates the mobile landscape for specific countries, there are noticeable trends throughout the area.
These patterns are both responses to LATAM’s distinct mobile conditions and wider global impacts, so can be telling of future mobile user expectations and habits. By recognizing and assimilating these trends, brand-new mobile apps and services can interrupt the market in a more significant way.
Here are the current and approaching patterns of mobile growth across Latin America:
Digital wallets
Around 70% of Latin America’s population is unbanked or underbanked, implying there is a substantial chance to improve financial access. One emerging solution is digital wallets, which work by means of top-ups and don’t need a checking account with a physical company or branch to set up. Digital wallets, for that reason, bypass the mistrust that lots of Latin Americans have around official banking organizations.
COVID-19 has definitely added to the increased demand for mobile wallets in LATAM. As a primarily cash-driven place, issues about managing fiat money have been verified as brand-new research studies expose that the virus can make it through on physical currency for 28 days. In turn, masses of people and consumers have begun looking for more secure alternatives to cash. In Mexico, digital wallets are believed to occupy a 27.7% share of the business-to-consumer e-commerce payments market by 2021, while Argentina has also been showing high in-store usage of digital wallets throughout the pandemic.