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Sell your digital products internationally – 5 strategies to bring your business to the Brazilian market

  • Writer: Bianca
    Bianca
  • Feb 27
  • 5 min read

In 2023, 92,5% of Brazilian households had access to the internet, according to the country's largest information agency, IBGE. This number is painfully close to the 100% your digital business is missing out on reaching.


No, it doesn't matter where you are based – if your business sells information, you could be marketing to millions of people more than you are now, and at least a few hundred of them could buy your stuff.


Below, find some actionable steps and tips to sell digital products to Brazilian customers – whether you sell online courses, eBooks, templates, tools, SaaS, printables, cooking recipes, or even crochet / knitting patterns.


a picture of 2 guys in fron of laptops selling digital products to Brazilian audience
Picture by Scott Graham on Unsplash

The Brazilian digital market


E-commerce growth, digital literacy, and smartphone usage are at an all-time high in Brazil. Anyone who has a phone can find you, no matter if you are tucked in your 2-bedroom apartment in Sydney, Australia, and they are browsing from that small town in Paraná.


My mother-in-law has purchased more online courses on baking than she can count. She has so many e-books on icing cakes that her phone storage screams for help whenever someone sends her a "Good Morning" WhatsApp image.


My mother-in-law is over 50 years old.


No one can deny that digital products are prevalent in Brazil among all age groups, genders, and social statuses. In fact, Brazil is the world’s fifth-largest internet economy, with over 177.1 million users.


Key strategies to sell your digital products in Brazil


To successfully tap into the Brazilian digital market, you should consider at least these elements:


  1. Translation and localization

  2. Payment methods

  3. E-commerce platform

  4. Digital marketing

  5. Customer support


Below, there are some details about each strategy.


1. Translation and localization


In Brazil, no one would enjoy reading a boring metaphor about England’s Royal Family to explain the superiority of your product – we probably won’t get the idea the way you intended.


Even humor is different across nations, and that is the reason why localization is so important for entering the Brazilian market. Translating with Google is not enough.


Adapting your products and content to resonate with Brazilian culture and preferences is a major part of bringing your digital business to the country. This includes incorporating local references, humor, and storytelling techniques that your audience recognizes.


Here are some of the benefits of a good translation and localization strategy:


  • Increased brand credibility and trust: I lost count of the number of times that I saw poorly translated content and immediately felt uneasy in relation to that brand that was trying to sell me something. Your words are your identity, and if you come across as lazy, your whole brand will suffer.


  • Fulfilling customer experience: accurate localization ensures that Brazilian consumers understand and appreciate the company's content, leading to a better customer experience overall – and higher chances of conversion.


  • Market adaptation: Language is dynamic. Proper localization can help your business stay updated with linguistic changes and adapt to the local market.


  • Avoid misunderstandings: a well-rounded translation and localization strategy helps prevent misunderstandings, as Brazilian Portuguese has specific nuances that can significantly alter the content of a message if not considered.


Dealing with localization (the most time-consuming part of bringing your business to Brazil) doesn’t have to be so hard. Reach out via my contact form so that I can help you by translating your website into Portuguese – or by writing content specifically for your Brazilian audience.


I can also deal with the localization of the digital products themselves, including recipes, courses, e-books, and templates.


2. Payment methods


If you truly want to invest in the internationalization of your business, I highly recommend understanding the buying (and paying) habits of Brazilian shoppers.


Even though Brazilians are comfortable with subscriptions and payment plans, offering a variety of local payment options can boost sales. For example, Pix is currently one of the most used digital payment methods, accounting for 40% of the purchases in 2024.


Credit cards, however, are also popular among Brazilian shoppers. An upside of this method is that most credit cards nowadays are international and allow direct conversion from Reais into your local currency.


3. E-commerce platform


The platform on which your business is placed is, indeed, very important. How couldn’t it be?


Etsy, for instance, is a wonderful place to sell digital products. Brazilian users can change the website’s language to Portuguese and the currency to Reais.


However, you must note that none of your product names, descriptions, and the products themselves will be in Portuguese. For that, you’ll need to create another account and set it up entirely in the language. I can help with that!


Here are the names of local websites similar to Etsy where you can sell your digital products:


  • Hotmart (for courses)

  • Nuvemshop

  • Udemy (for courses)

  • Amazon.com.br (for ebooks).


If you want to have more control and avoid these websites’ fees, set up a Shopify account and create your own store. Don’t forget to optimize for smartphones – Brazil is very much mobile.


4. Digital marketing in Brazil


What is the point of selling your digital products to the Brazilian audience when they don’t even know about your existence?


This is the crux of every creator, not only when it comes to an international audience but especially when it does. After all, how to deal with marketing when you don’t even know the difference between “colher” and “colher”?


Anyway, I digress. Social media is usually the way to go for reaching a wide Brazilian audience. Over 80% of the population use social media – and not the type you would expect.


Meta has a huge reign in Brazil, with WhatsApp taking the crown and Instagram coming right after.


In fact, WhatsApp, or as we lovingly call it, the “Zap,” is installed on nearly every phone as the default messaging app. And companies have been tapping into that market by creating Business accounts and setting up buying groups.


5. Customer support


Finally, please provide customer support in Portuguese before and after the purchase, especially if you sell high-ticket digital products. Use the simplicity and gratuity of WhatsApp and email to answer your customers' questions and concerns.


I also recommend setting up a profile at Reclame Aqui! and staying engaged. This is a website where customers can complain about businesses and their products and where businesses can respond, solve problems, and maintain a good reputation in search engines.


Start here


Don’t know where to start?


If you already have a digital product you want to sell in Brazil, you should definitely reach out so we can begin working on localization. Setting up your products and website in Brazilian Portuguese is the first step towards venturing into this new market.


I can write or translate not only your website copy (about us, product pages, product descriptions, and all) but also promote your business with long-form content in Portuguese.


Click here to fill out the contact form with information on what you need, and I’ll reach you with a quote.





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