Most shoppers in emerging markets reject global checkout

dLocal has published research showing that 71% of shoppers in seven emerging markets are unlikely to buy from a website that does not offer local payment options. The findings are based on a survey of 1,358 consumers across Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa.

Nearly 99% of respondents said local currency or alternative payment methods are important when shopping online, while 93% said they would be more likely to buy from a foreign brand if they could use a preferred local payment method such as a bank transfer, mobile wallet or Pix.

The survey covered consumers in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Thailand, the Philippines, Kenya and Nigeria. It offers a comparative look at how shoppers in those markets make decisions about cross-border eCommerce, including payment preferences, shipping expectations and attitudes towards brands from the US, Europe and China.

Payment barriers

Buy Now, Pay Later emerged as a notable point of friction in online purchases. Its absence was cited by 39% of respondents as one of the biggest barriers to paying online, ahead of other alternative payment methods such as e-wallets, bank transfers, mobile payments and prepaid cards, which were cited by 37%.

One in five respondents said products not being priced in their local currency was a barrier. More broadly, payment-related factors are already reshaping shopping habits, with more than half of consumers identifying local payment methods and currencies as the biggest influence on how they shop online.

That pattern was particularly clear in some individual markets. In Argentina and Mexico, only 6% and 5% respectively said they would buy without local payment support, the lowest shares recorded in the survey.

Kenya stood out for the weight placed on instalment finance. The lack of Buy Now, Pay Later was the single biggest barrier there, cited by 59% of respondents, almost 14 percentage points higher than in any other market in the study.

Regional differences

The research also pointed to differences in how consumers balance payments and delivery. In the Philippines, acceptance of a preferred local payment method ranked ahead of shipping as the main purchase driver for European brands, at 64%.

Shipping preferences varied elsewhere. Nigeria and Kenya were the only two markets where faster shipping ranked above lower shipping costs as the top purchase driver. In the other markets, cost was the stronger factor.

The findings suggest that while price and delivery remain important in cross-border retail, payment localisation can be a threshold issue in many high-growth consumer markets. In some countries, consumers appear willing to consider foreign brands only when checkout reflects local habits and systems.

Brand perceptions

The report also examined how shoppers view brands by origin. Chinese brands were bought most often despite being the least trusted of the three groups measured, with negative sentiment at 5.4%, compared with 1.9% for US brands.

Even so, 44.3% of respondents said they bought Chinese brands often or all the time, compared with 31.5% for US brands. The gap points to a distinction between trust and purchasing behaviour, with product availability, price, familiarity or ease of purchase potentially shaping decisions more directly than stated sentiment.

dLocal positioned the findings against broader demographic and economic trends in emerging economies. It cited projections that 65% of global economic growth will come from emerging markets by 2035, while almost 90% of millennial and Generation Z consumers are expected to live in those markets by 2027.

Comparable data on shopper behaviour across Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia remains limited, according to dLocal. The survey sought to address that through local-language fieldwork across the seven countries.

The sample included 210 respondents each in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Thailand, 206 in the Philippines, 157 in Kenya and 155 in Nigeria. Respondents completed the survey online in Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Thai or English.

Horacio Raviolo, Head of Commercial Partnerships at dLocal, said the research shows that payment choices can shape market entry for international retailers.

"International brands and retailers waiting for emerging markets to adapt global payment methods risk entering them when they are already saturated," Raviolo said.

He added that the way to stand out in these markets is to adapt payment and currency options to local expectations.

"Everyone expects world-class shopping experiences, fast shipping and great customer service. However, differentiation in these markets comes in the form of local currencies and payment methods," Raviolo said.