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E-Commerce Trends in Costa Rica

Delivered December 5, 2019. Contributor: Katieanne G.

Goals

To find 4-5 recent or emerging trends in each of the following tech industry segments: e-commerce, connectivity, digital paid media, streaming services, and IoT. For each trend, explain why it is a trend, what it is, and provide 1-2 companies that are engaging in it. Geographical focus is Costa Rica.

Early Findings

 E-commerce in Costa Rica has been growing over the last decade despite the country's relatively low internet speeds.

Trend #1: Local Keeps Brings Costa Rican Talent to the World Stage

  • The global e-commerce store Local Keeps features local artisans and crafters in Costa Rica among its community of "makers." This is has allowed the Costa Rican community to "showcase the talent of [its] people."
  • Local Keeps is an e-commerce platform headquartered in San Jose, Costa Rica. It develops relationships with businesses and individuals across the world to sell local crafts and products.
  •  Dok Appetit is one Costa Rican business using the e-commerce platform to sell goods globally. It offers healthy — and delicious — dog treats that are easier for pets to digest. Its peanut butter cookies, coconut and chia cookies, and herb cookies are among the company's most popular products.
  •  Yamuni, a family-owned Costa Rican department store, is another business using the platform. The store's products include "homeware, clothing, textile products, crystalware, and gifts."

Trend #2: Increasing Home-Delivery Orders

  • The use of e-commerce platforms has been increasing in Costa Rica due to rising rates of cellphone penetration and access to 4G internet service.
  • Many Costa Ricans order from the Chinese company Wish.com. The volume of home-delivery orders coming into Costa Rica from Asia has been so overwhelming that "the Costa Rican Postal Service has opened a new office to deal with [the] backlog of deliveries."
  • Amazon extended its home-delivery services to include Costa Rica in 2018. Prior to this, Costa Ricans had to use "Miami-based P.O. box services" to order from the e-commerce giant.

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