E-commerce gains foothold on the Latin American market, with a 39.2 percent growth registered during 2009, a recent report cited by Datamonitor has revealed.

According to a study conducted by AmericaEconomia Intelligence for Visa, during the period under review, online sales totalled USD 21.7 million. Some of the main reasons behind such a drive point out to an increase of broadband penetration (with 40 million broadband users), a growing number of users with computer access (150 million) as well as to a progress made by the banking sector.

The top three e-commerce markets in Latin America are Brazil (61 percent), Mexico (12 percent) and Chile (5 percent) where electro-domestic goods, iPads and other electronic goods bought from the US, stood out as the most popular products sold via e-commerce distribution channels, the report has shown.

Nevertheless, despite the increasing popularity of online shopping, many Latin American residents remain offline consumers with no or poor banking and credit access, according to the same study.