Mercado Livre (the unit of Mercado Libre in Brazil) has announced the creation of a new business unit: a company-oriented marketplace. Mercado Livre Negócios will function as a type of virtual wholesale retail for clients who hold a CNPJ, who tend to place bigger and more frequent orders.

“This solution was developed to serve from small entrepreneurs to big companies and government organs, offering exclusive conditions to purchases through CNPJ (the national register of companies in Brazil) – even for individual orders”, says the company’s statement.

The decision for the company to create a B2B (business-to-business) unit is supported by global market tendencies. The German statistics platform Statista reveals, based on one of its surveys, that B2B e-commerce globally is four times larger than its consumer-oriented counterpart (B2C).

In Mercado Livre's evaluation, the corporate client is strategic since, having larger volumes and purchase frequency, the average purchase receipt is therefore also bigger. Furthermore, return indexes are also smaller.

“We are filling a strategic niche with an offer which brings more convenience for companies that purchase retail, making the most of all the strength in our ecosystem”, Roberta Donato, vice-president of Mercado Livre’s marketplace.

The new platform began its testing stages in October last year. Mercado Livre identified 4 million users in Latin America who are eligible to make retail purchases. In Brazil, the company offers over 1.3 million products with exclusive price tags for businesses.

According to Mercado Livre, the most sought-after items by corporate clients are office supplies, technology, food-related items, cleaning supplies, furnishings, and auto parts.

Cheaper Shipping

Buyers who register in the Mercado Livre Negócios platform will also have lower shipping costs, “allowing them to reduce the overall costs with logistics and offer more competitive prices”, says the company's statement.

With the news, Mercado Livre shows a disposition to act on different fronts.

The marketplace recently confirmed its intention to join the pharmaceutical sector and has even acquired a physical plant to conduct its own distribution. Officially, the company states that this strategy is still being studied. Mercado Livre executives have informed market analysts that this operation will differ from those employed by Amazon abroad.