The Digital Takeoff: The Beginnings of E-commerce in Ibero-America

To begin this book, the first of 25 fragments, I invite you to engage in a small exercise of imagination that takes us back to a concept that emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic: the eTsunami.

Let’s think of the digital ecosystem as a vast ocean, where the underwater currents are the invisible forces that shape its landscape. Just as tectonic plates shift beneath the Earth’s surface, events and technological advancements have caused seismic changes in the digital landscape.

In the early days of e-commerce, we could liken this moment to the emergence of a new underwater current, an initial force that begins deep in the digital ocean. This inaugural milestone, although seemingly insignificant, laid the groundwork for what would follow—the beginnings of e-commerce in Ibero-America.

Like underground aquifers, this initial force gained momentum, gradually moving toward the surface. As this underwater current rose, it gave way to online commerce, a phenomenon that could be compared to the waves forming on the ocean’s surface.

These waves represent the growing visibility and accessibility of digital commerce, bringing about a noticeable shift in how people interact with the virtual world. Over time, these waves became swells, symbolizing the consolidation of digital commerce as an industry in its own right.

Here is where the clashes between the underwater currents become more evident, sparking revolutions in the digital landscape. It’s similar to when two tectonic plates collide, causing earthquakes that alter the surrounding terrain.

This is the moment when the digital ecosystem undergoes a radical transformation, an eTsunami that reconfigures the way business is conducted and interactions occur online. Yet, despite the apparent destruction caused by these events, the digital ocean does not disappear entirely.

Instead, it reinvents itself, adapting to the new landscapes that emerge after the chaos. Similarly, after each digital revolution, the ecosystem reshapes itself but remains part of the same vast ocean of possibilities.

Just as this living book breaks down the milestones of the digital ecosystem, we could liken this methodology to the exploration of marine sediments that reveal the ocean’s hidden history. By analyzing the key moments and experiences shared by those who were present from the beginning, the underlying narrative that has shaped Ibero-America’s digital ecosystem is revealed. It’s like unearthing fossils from the past to better understand the present and anticipate the future of the ever-evolving digital landscape.

In the following chart, those interested can explore each of these moments, which we will reconstruct together from now on, further reinforcing the concept of a living book:

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