In this video, I'll be talking about the Latin American stock MercadoLibre (MELI 0.28%) and why I believe this is a must-have in your long-term portfolio. You can find the video below.
Growing trend
The $85 billion Latin American e-commerce opportunity has only penetrated at 6% of retail, compared to 18% globally. Brazil has less than 1% penetration in relation to worldwide retail e-commerce, and yet according to eMarketer, it made the list of "Top 10 Countries Ranked by Retail E-commerce Sales." Brazil ranks second in sales growth in 2021, and Argentina ranks fourth. It's still in its early days, but competition and economic and political risk should be kept in mind.
Ecosystem
Just like Sea Limited, MercadoLibre also has a couple of business segments including:
- MercadoLibre, which is the marketplace.
- Mercado Envios, the logistics side of the business. They have been expanding and adding new fulfillment centers in the various countries in which they operate. Envios shipped 230.5 million items during the quarter.
- Mercado Pago, the fintech side of the business. Total payment volume surpassed $17.5 billion, a year-over-year increase of 56.3%.
- Mercado Publicidad, which is their advertising arm.
- Mercado Fondo, an asset-management product, has over $810 million under management and 19.3 million users in LaTam.
Recently, the company has increased and expanded every aspect of its business. It announced that it will be looking to add 8,500 people over the next four months to meet the strong demand.
For the full insights, watch the video below.
*Stock prices used were the closing prices of September 15, 2021. The video was published on September 16, 2021.
