B2C activity declines 7% in April

Brazilian Internet retail sales fell 7% to 369mn reais (US$130mn) during the month of April, Brazilian B2C study VOL said in a statement. The amount was equivalent to 2.4% of total retail activity in the country during the month. According to Daniel Domeneghetti, director of strategy for tech consultancy E-Consulting, the slowdown of online retail activity, seen since March this year, reflects consumer uncertainty, motivated by domestic concerns over the new government, and international concerns, particularly the war in Iraq and reshuffling of economic relationships between countries. VOL is a partnership between E-Consulting and Brazil's e-commerce chamber Camara-e.net. The study does not include data from online auto purchases, which if included, would made up 62.5% of all online sales.