Costa Rican Customer E-Commerce Readiness

•  E-commerce continues to increase in Costa Rica because this country has led the region in telecommunications network development and information technology initiatives and education. There is great potential for Costa Rican customers to increase their use of the internet and e-commerce in the future because of these development and education initiatives.
• Costa Ricans already enjoy over 179% cell-phone penetration, and they reached 171% internet penetration by the end of 2018, according to the Costa Rica’s Superintendence of Telecommunications (Sutel).
•  Costa Rican customers are increasingly aware of the benefits of using e-commerce. “Black Friday” began in 2010 for Costa Rica, and thousands of Costa Rican customers still take advantage of the day and purchase online from virtual stores in the United States. E-commerce has also led to the creation of companies where Costa Rican customers can purchase merchandise from U.S. retailers and transport it to the local market.
• Wish.com is a popular Chinese website in the Costa Rican e-commerce market that offers low prices to Costa Rican customers for purchased items that are sent directly to their households. The Costa Rican Postal Service (Correos de Costa Rica) has opened a new office to deal with a backlog of deliveries due to the overwhelming amount of orders received from Asia.

• A recent study on behalf of Mastercard found that 83% of Costa Ricans want improved security in e-commerce, with more biometric features that will go beyond passwords to include "identification through fingerprints, face recognition and other emerging forms as the next phase of their authentication", to become more open to engaging in e-commerce on a frequent basis.