The e-commerce market in Mexico in 2015 was estimated by Forbes to be 12 billion U.S. dollars and by the Mexican Internet Association AMIPCI to be 257.1 billion Mexico pesos (about 15.6 billion U.S. dollars).Jan http://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/empresas/que-compraron-los-mexicanos-en-la-hotsale.html This represented 1.6–2% of all retail sales vs. a global average of 7%.

Characteristics of the market

E-commerce in Mexico takes place primarily through the use of websites and apps, but it can also be conducted through messaging platforms such as

WhatsApp WhatsApp (officially WhatsApp Messenger) is an American social media, instant messaging (IM), and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by technology conglomerate Meta. It allows users to send text, voice messages and video messages, make vo ...

Facebook Messenger Messenger, formerly known as Facebook Messenger, is an American proprietary instant messaging service developed by Meta Platforms. Originally developed as Facebook Chat in 2008, the client application of Messenger is currently available o ...

(sometimes using

chatbots A chatbot (originally chatterbot) is a software application or web interface designed to have textual or spoken conversations. Modern chatbots are typically online and use generative artificial intelligence systems that are capable of main ...

), and leads generated on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

. According to estimates in 2016, around 70% of Mexicans had access to the internet. E-commerce volume in Mexico grew by 900% between 2009 and 2015. While debit and credit cards are commonly used for e-commerce payments in Mexico, cash is also an important payment method. Nearly half of Mexicans have used cash to make an e-commerce purchase. Transactions are completed online, and the website provides a reference number. Customers must then bring this reference number and the cash to a convenience store, supermarket, or bank that accepts cash payments and charges a commission.

Associations

Organizations include the Asociación de Internet.mx (formerly AMIPCI), and AMVO (Asociación Mexicana de la Venta Online) which organizes the annual HotSale, a sale on e-commerce channels only across a broad range of Mexican retailers.

By industry

Retailers

Leaders in clothes retailing include

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

MercadoLibre MercadoLibre, Inc. (literally "free market" in Spanish, and known as Mercado Livre in Portuguese) is an Argentine company headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay and incorporated in Delaware in the United States that operates online marketplaces d ...

and Privalia. Only grocery retailing is led by

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

, Superama and

Soriana Organización Soriana is a Mexican public company and a major retailer in Mexico with more than 824 stores. Soriana is a grocery and department store retail chain headquartered in Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. The company is 100% cap ...

. Leaders in electronics are MercadoLibre,

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

Mexico and

Linio Linio is one of the leading marketplaces in Latin America, with presence in five countries and offering more than four million products. History Linio began operations in 2012 in Mexico. The company has been through various rounds of funding, ...

, the latter originally launched by

Rocket Internet Rocket Internet SE is a German Internet company headquartered in Berlin. The company builds startups and owns shareholdings in various models of internet retail businesses. The company model is known as a startup studio or a venture builder. I ...

. Leaders in Home Improvement includ
The Home Depot

Delivery

Rappi Rappi is a Latin American super-app headquartered in Bogotá, Colombia, with offices in São Paulo and Mexico City. It was founded in 2015 by Simón Borrero, Sebastian Mejía, and Felipe Villamarín. History Rappi was founded in 2015 by thre ...

Cornershop Cornershop are an English indie rock band formed in Leicester, in 1991. The group are best known for their single " Brimful of Asha" from their third album '' When I Was Born for the 7th Time''. A remixed version of the track reached number one ...

and Mercadoni deliver groceries from various retailers (in some cases competing with the retailers' own delivery services), while Sin Delantal and

Uber Eats Uber Eats is an online food ordering and delivery platform launched by the company Uber in 2014. It is operational in over 6,000 cities in 45 countries as of 2021. History Uber Eats' parent company Uber was founded in 2009 by Garrett ...

deliver food from restaurants.

Transportation

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...

and

Cabify Cabify is a platform to facilitate the transport of people and objects. The company operates in Spain and Latin America Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay). Previously, it also operated in Portugal Mexico, and Brazil. Cabify was founded ...

compete for the taxi and car share business, while the four largest Mexican airlines

Aeroméxico Aerovías de México, S.A. de C.V. () operating as Aeroméxico (; styled as AM), is the flag carrier of Mexico based in Mexico City. It operates scheduled services to more than 90 destinations in Mexico, North, South and Central America, the Ca ...

Volaris Volaris (legally ''Concesionaria Vuela Compañía de Aviación S.A.B. de C.V.'') is a Mexican low-cost airline based in Santa Fe, Mexico City, Santa Fe, Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City, Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City with its operating bases in Canc ...

Interjet InterJet was a private jet charter operator in the Greek business aviation market. InterJet was based in Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal ...

and Viva Aerobús all have an important e-commerce and social media presence. Aeroméxico in particular publicized its digital transformation as a key pillar of its strategy, and has expanded its sales and service to a

chatbot A chatbot (originally chatterbot) is a software application or web interface designed to have textual or spoken conversations. Modern chatbots are typically online and use generative artificial intelligence systems that are capable of main ...

Entertainment

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

and Claro Video and

Blim Blim TV (stylized as blim tv) was an on-demand video subscription service, offered online via TelevisaUnivision, through an Internet connection, which offers access to programs strictly for personal use, in exchange for payment of a monthly su ...

compete in offering streaming entertainment to Mexican households. while

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

dominates in streaming music.

Startups

Startup incubators/accelerators such as

MassChallenge MassChallenge is a global, zero-equity startup accelerator, founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2009. MassChallenge is headquartered in Boston's Seaport District in the MassMutual Building, and has additional U.S. locations in Texas, as well int ...

and

Plug and Play In computing, a plug and play (PnP) device or computer bus is one with a specification that facilitates the recognition of a hardware component in a system without the need for physical device configuration or user intervention in resolving reso ...

are present with Mexican programs and

WeWork WeWork Inc., headquartered in New York City, is a provider of coworking spaces, including physical and virtual shared spaces, in approximately 600 buildings in 125 cities. WeWork was founded in 2010 by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey. Ove ...

and local alternatives provide office space. Many corporates have innovation programs including

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

Scotiabank The Bank of Nova Scotia (), operating as Scotiabank (), is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada's Big Five (banks), Big Five banks, it is the ...

and

. INADEM, Instituto Nacional para el Emprendedor (National Institute for the Entrepreneur), part of the Economics Ministry, provides support to startups.

References

{{reflist

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Economy of Mexico