The Mercado Livre website now offers free shipping for purchases starting from R$ 19, a reduction of over 70% compared to the previous amount.

This Friday (6), Mercado Livre announced that it has lowered the minimum amount for purchases with free shipping from R$ 79 to R$ 19. This change is aimed at increasing the platform's competitiveness and attracting more consumers.

The new amount was adopted precisely because of the intense competition generated by the expansion of Chinese e-commerce platforms. According to Fernando Yunes, senior vice president of Mercado Livre, now practically "the entire site offers free shipping."

The change takes effect today on the website. Consumers will see the option when finalizing their cart, while the minimum applicable amount for free shipping does not require any specific form of payment. But it is worth noting:

International purchases only have free shipping starting from R$ 79;

Grocery items only have free shipping starting from R$ 199.

With free shipping for purchases starting from R$ 19, Mercado Livre reduces the minimum amount by 76% compared to the previous amount, which was R$ 79. This platform program was launched in 2017 and at that time applied to purchases starting from R$ 120.

With this, the company hopes to be more competitive among rivals like Shopee and Temu, for example. One of the pain points of e-commerce platforms is precisely the cancellation of purchases when the consumer reaches the shipping moment.

The expectation is to better serve the Northeast and North states, considering the shipping costs for these regions. The company hopes to see an increase in purchases of beauty items, clothing, home decor, utensils, and more.

For sellers, Mercado Livre also reduced the shipping cost by up to 40% in May of this year. Products costing from R$ 79 to R$ 199.99, and weighing up to 30 kg, benefited from the change. New sellers with accounts created from May 26 experienced a 17% drop.

R$ 24 million in coupons

The occasion of the announcement coincides with Mercado Livre's 6/6 promotion. Just today, R$ 13 million in coupons are expected to be distributed by the platform, which aims for a total of R$ 24 million during the promotional period. The company says that the investment even exceeds that of Black Friday.

Earlier this week, Mercado Livre resorted to the courts to try to prevent the platform from being blocked in Brazil. The decision was made after action by the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) focusing on the sale of unapproved cell phones in the country. The company claims that the action is "disproportionate" and could affect over 50,000 direct jobs.$BTC