The development of e-commerce in China and Brazil: Features and prospects

Abstract

E-commerce has recently become one of the most dynamically developing forms of international trade, accelerating the digitalization of national economies. In this regard, each country has its own features of the e-commerce development. China and Brazil represent leading emerging economies that strengthen regional leadership in e-commerce, and the PRC is also one of the world leaders in this field. The authors conduct the comparative analysis, which emphasizes patterns and trends in Chinese and Brazilian e-commerce and demonstrates what challenges countries face and which factors impact on the expansion of e-commerce on domestic markets and beyond. The paper identifies the dynamics, main players and product structure of e-commerce, features of mobile and social e-commerce, infrastructural problems and their solutions. That allows to highlight the key determinants and prospects for the expansion of e-commerce in the studied countries. The research pays special attention to revealing the specifics of the cross-border e-commerce between China and Brazil, how Chinese companies enter the Brazilian market through e-commerce, and what steps Brazilian firms are taking in this field. The Chinese and Brazilian experiences in the e-commerce certainly represent an important contribution for Russia, which, under the current conditions, looks for the routes to expand its trade flows. E-commerce could become an additional driver for the development of the Russian economic activity and the improvement of the Russian digital economy.