(some lessons for exporters and business travellers)
I have the privilege of travelling around Latin America on business regularly, and there’s often some time for shopping, particularly since I live in probably Latin America’s most expensive country and the rest of the continent (or the world) seems rather affordable in comparison.
So, as we hit the year’s busiest time for retailers, here’s what I love and hate about shopping in Latin America…
1- Payment
Quickly moving from hate to love on this front.
In most shopping centres you will find that credit cards are accepted everywhere, but don’t expect the same in more “local” areas (often much cheaper and colourful) or markets. Credit cards are sometimes accepted at fairs (Itau Mo Week in Uruguay and ED Bazar in Chile are two fantastic examples) but this varies across countries.
If haggling at medium-size markets where they might take cash and cards, ask if you can get a discount if paying cash.
On the plus side, fintech companies in South America promise to change the scene. My favourite, paganza from Uruguay.
2- Credit card offers
Love.
It’s widespread in Latin America for credit card issuers to offer specific discounts at certain shops on certain dates. In Uruguay, where I live, the strongest credit cards currently for discounts are those issued by Itau and Santander. I have seen the same in Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Chile. Discounts are usually of 15-20% but can even be a bit higher. Banks also organise discount events associated with certain shopping centres or areas, and pre-sales for concerts and other events (Santander in Uruguay this month offered discounted pre-sale tickets for the Rolling Stones concert).
I have also seen good discounts offered with newspaper subscriptions in Colombia, Chile and here in Uruguay.
And sorry to appoint the business traveller: discounts almost always apply only to cards issued in the same country.
3- Customer service
No hate, no love. Just survive, really.
In general, if coming from the UK, you won’t feel much difference in terms of customer service. You’ll find the good, the bad and the plain ugly. In my opinion, Colombia has by far the best customer service generally speaking, in terms of friendliness and knowledge.
4- Process
Hate.
The speed at which you are served at shops in Latin America ranges from very slow to moderately slow. I tend to observe this with great detainment, trying to work out where the bottleneck occurs. The technology is often there, but there is always a missing barcode, a wrong barcode, staff too busy talking to each other rather than serving you, etc.
There’s often a security tag not removed that sets the alarm off, usually at another shop, which means you have to go back to the original shop and get it removed, something that takes time and that involves a high degree of frustration (that’s my pet hate, if you wonder). Or you might end up back home with the tag. Good fun.
At supermarkets in Uruguay (don’t get me started), if I need to top up a mobile phone, that’s another transaction, so I need to go through the whole thing twice. And if you ever try using discount coupons (I’ve only recently seen them round here), it’s terrible just how little staff know about the terms and conditions. You end up begging to pay full price.
This is me.
5- Returns
No hate, no love, just avoid it.
If buying anything is never straightforward, imagine what it’s like trying to return something. Slow, on a good day. Painful, often. Impossible, sometimes. The good thing? You get to practise your best negotiation and persuasion skills. I find that Chile is very good at this, Uruguay is getting there but still lagging behind. This is an area at which big, often multinational, chains excel, and their example is filtering down to smaller local retailers.
6- Gift-wrapping
Love. Makes life easier.
Yes, you can ask for free gift-wrapping (it’s the same in Spain), something I wasn’t used to in the UK. This ranges from the truly awesome (think Rowan Atkinson in Love Actually) to the plain boring (think the same usual carrier bag with a pretty ribbon).
Oh, yes, please.
On the same topic, gift vouchers are less rare than 10 years ago but not quite a common as in the UK. Countries with developed retail scenes like Colombia and Chile are leading the way on this.
So if you are selling consumer goods to Latin America, make sure you understand these details, make sure you can visualise how your products will reach your consumer. If you are thinking about shopping in Latin America, bring some change, take some chamomile tea and enjoy the ride.
