Silicon Valley builds for Silicon Valley. Then it’s surprised when the rest of the world doesn’t adopt the same way.
But here’s what most people miss: emerging markets share more patterns with each other than they do with developed markets.
LATAM and Asia share more patterns than people think. Tech adoption cycles shrink from decades to months.
The Mirror Effect
Working at VTEX (LATAM’s commerce platform) and then inside India’s Tata ecosystem, I saw the same patterns repeat:
- Mobile-first isn’t a choice. It’s the only option. Desktop penetration is low. Mobile is the computer.
- Trust is harder to build. Low institutional trust means brands must earn every interaction.
- Price sensitivity drives innovation. Constraint breeds creativity. India’s UPI, Brazil’s Pix — both leapfrogged Western payment infrastructure.
- Leapfrogging is the norm. These markets skip legacy phases entirely. No checks, straight to digital payments. No landlines, straight to smartphones.
What This Means for AI
AI adoption in emerging markets will follow the same leapfrog pattern. Companies in India, Brazil, Indonesia, and Nigeria won’t go through the Phase 1 → Phase 2 → Phase 3 evolution at Western pace. They’ll skip straight to agents and AI-native experiences because they have no legacy to protect.
The prediction: The most innovative AI commerce applications in 2027 won’t come from Silicon Valley. They’ll come from emerging markets where necessity and low legacy create the perfect conditions for AI-native innovation.
The Strategic Implication
If you’re building for global scale, study emerging market patterns. They’re not “catching up” to developed markets. They’re defining what comes next. The future of commerce is being built in Bengaluru and São Paulo as much as in San Francisco.
Choose to be wise.