Coronavirus to take R$47.1bn out of Brazilian retail spend in 2020, says GlobalData

Brazil’s retail market is set to be one of the better performing in Latin America in 2020, growing 2.0 percent, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Amy Higginbotham, Retail Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The COVID-19 outbreak will have a marked impact on retail in Brazil, with the market set to grow significantly less than our original forecast of 4.8 percent in 2020. But Brazil will fare better than many other countries in South America, including Peru and Colombia, where the market is set to contract by 2.0 percent and 6.0 percent respectively.
Although the central government has not imposed societal restrictions, with President Bolsonaro taking a controversial anti-lockdown stance, many states have taken it upon themselves to introduce measures, including the closure of non-essential stores.
Store closures and a lack of social gatherings have meant that shoppers in Brazil are spending much less on non-essential items such as clothing and footwear. Big-ticket categories such as furniture and electricals have been particularly badly hit.”
Higginbotham continues: “However, many stores are already starting to reopen, and we expect that consumers in Brazil will return to spend on non-essentials relatively quickly.”