Mercado Libre launches free AI-powered platform to boost online sales for SMEs

Mercado Libre has launched CLIC, a free, 24-hour online platform designed to train entrepreneurs, producers, cooperatives, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Argentina and Mexico. The initiative aims to equip businesses with the skills needed to sell online, addressing the relatively low e-commerce penetration in the region, which stands at around 16.7% in Argentina according to Morgan Stanley.

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We want to push SMEs, build a commercial pathway that allows them to develop their business and generate income for families.

Guadalupe Marín, Mercado Libre's Director of Sustainability, explained that the platform provides a step-by-step guide to help businesses better utilize the online channel. "We want to push SMEs, build a commercial pathway that allows them to develop their business and generate income for families," she stated. Currently, over 300,000 SMEs and entrepreneurs use Mercado Libre, with the platform serving as the primary income source for 49% of them.

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The Argentina is a reflection of the countries of Latin America; when we compare e-commerce with more developed countries, there is greater digitalization in the population, and an issue of reach and deepening of that digitalization. We have much to build.

Marín noted that while Argentina and Mexico are the initial launch markets, the program is open to companies from any country, with plans to expand to Brazil and eventually scale globally. The initiative is being implemented in collaboration with FIBO, a social organization with extensive experience working with cooperatives. CLIC provides personalized business diagnostics and a practical roadmap for improving digital and commercial strategies, requiring no prior technical knowledge from participants. The first stage includes six asynchronous practical modules.

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CLIC was born from our conviction to democratize e-commerce in Argentina; with this program, we generate the conditions, through specific support and tools, so that more entrepreneurs can take advantage of it.