Igor VENCESLAU, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Besides the name of the giant e-commerce company referred to the largest river in the world, it rarely operates in Amazon rainforest. However, this found does not mean that electronic commerce does not exist or is not relevant in the region. During the pandemic, Amazonia is the region which have been experiencing the largest growth in e-commerce revenue among Brazilian regions, above 100% per year. As part of the ongoing doctoral research on the geography of e-commerce in Brazil, this work aims to present results about the specific e-commerce logistics in Amazonia, a peripherical region in the Brazilian territory. This research uses bibliographical review on the geography of digital economy; online data simulation, including delivery time and prices from different national and global companies; and a fieldwork in Amazonia, covering both the metropolis of Manaus and small riverside towns. On the contrary of the rest of the country and most of the world, the largest agent providing e-commerce in Amazonia is a local/regional company and not a national or global one. This and other local agents can offer free shipping rates and fast delivery operating from Manaus, differently from other big players. Most important, regional digital companies have the necessary knowledge to use the territory and trace a logistics operation including a multimodal strategy based on river transportation together with air and road modes where possible. Online retail is now possible on many riverside towns and villages due to that strategy called e-commerce caboclo, and also because retailers are the same companies to provide Internet connection and financial services in the form of credit to the consumers. It is, though, possible to conclude that advances on new digital economy is dependent on local and old elements of the geographical space, which can be understood as both a limit to the global agents and an opportunity to local ones.
Mots clés : E-commerce|Logistics|Digital|Internet|Amazonia
A104651IV