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E-Commerce and Fintech: The Perfect Pandemic Marriage

By Aitor Chinchetru - Fintonic
Founder & Co-CEO

STORY INLINE POST

By Aitor Chinchetru | Founder & co-CEO - Tue, 07/06/2021 - 14:55

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The coronavirus pandemic, although we did not expect it, has pushed us to adopt other options to live our daily life. One of these alternatives, which has turned out to be one of the big winners during the pandemic, is online shopping. According to the Mexican Online Sales Association (AMVO), e-commerce registered growth of 81 percent in 2020 in Mexico.

The pandemic was the trigger for people who were not yet convinced to buy online and preferred physical contact, both with products and with salespeople and money. Consequently, although the growth of e-commerce was evident and had been effectively reinforced in recent years, 2020 was crucial for its adoption, which has supported almost 4 million small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the country.

For this reason, today, we are at a point where e-commerce has taken a leading role and has provided significant relevance to initiatives such as Hot Sale and Amazon Prime Day,

especially in 2020. For example, according to data from the AMVO, the 2021 Hot Sale edition registered an increase of 40.5 percent in company participation.

Therefore, the adoption of e-commerce not only positively impacts businesses that have opted for the digital world but it benefits consumers by providing more purchase options. Moreover, the e-commerce boom affects directly or indirectly several sectors. Such is the case of fintech.

In the fintech sector, 441 companies are now operating in Mexico, which is 14 percent more than in 2019. That makes Mexico the country with the most significant number of fintech companies in Latin America. Even in a year as challenging as 2020, this growth has provided more substantial financial services for people.

During the pandemic, people were urged and pushed to adopt electronic tools or platforms to stay safe. In this way, consumers have been able to use digital tools to carry out many actions, such as payments through access to small levels of credit (e.g. KueskiPay) or to access credit cards through applications (e.g. Rappi). However, for those looking to access debit cards or loans, options such as Fintonic have been available to complete their purchases. For businesses, solutions such as OpenPay and Conekta have been their allies during the pandemic.

Although there is still a segment of the population that does not have access to financial services, fintech can be the answer to them to access loans, credit, debit or credit cards, and payment platforms or tools, among others. Fintechs, for several years, have known first-hand the population’s needs and have learned how to capitalize on the demands that came with the pandemic. In addition, fintech companies have the innovation gene, which has allowed them to arrive with timely solutions for the banked populations and for those that remain on the margins.

Photo by:   Aitor Chinchetru

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