Banks in Mexico have gotten into the online act too, adds Wenrich. That country's overall online growth has been fantastic. A year ago, it had only about 50 sites and very few significant online players other than airlines and supermarkets. Since then, there has been an explosion of new offerings from smaller e-tailers to multichannel media players online. Despite all the plays and players, e-commerce faces a bumpy road in Latin America as in other developing regions worldwide.
Obstacles range from lack of infrastructure to delivery logistics, trust issues and culture.
Argentina is an example of a country with the right mix but struggling to overcome obstacles to Internet and e-commerce growth. It is the fourth-largest in Latin American with 36.7 million people, 13.2 million of whom live in Buenos Aires. Internet penetration at 3.98 percent of the adult population also is the highest, according to New York-based eMarketer. But Internet access is costly. In the region as a whole, there are market leaders with strong brand recognition, a key ingredient in Latin America, where consumers tend to be very loyal to a brand, says Cheskin's Mitchel.