Are Brazilians still football obsessed? And are big bums still the beauty standard? In our 2014 / 15 cultural snapshot of Brazil, we demystify cultural myths, shed light on the country’s economic outlook, and explore the emerging and established trends across eleven sectors.

Brazilians have a long-running love affair with malls. There are currently 503 shopping centres across the nation, earning a total revenue of R$129 billion in 2013. Can an e-commerce platform that promises to be a virtual mall entice Brazilians to spend online?

In the first part of a two-part report, Ulysses De La Torre looks at the dominant trends in Latin America's fast-growing e-commerce market, and presents an overview of Brazilian online retail.

As emerging economies transform the consumer base for high-end goods, luxury is moving out of range of all but the very richest. The fashion industry is rushing to fill the gap, as the notion of aspiration is remodelled to appeal to a diverse range of consumers – and budgets.