Mexican electronic commerce is among the 5 with the highest global growth rate

During 2022, online sales in Mexico had a growth of 23%, according to the Online Sales Study 2023, prepared by the Mexican Association of Online Sales (AMVO) in collaboration with Netquest, Netrica, Similarweb and GfK. Thus, Mexico was positioned in the top five of the countries with the highest growth rate of e-commerce worldwide, being surpassed by countries such as India, the Philippines and Indonesia. The world average increase was 7.4 percent.

The global e-commerce retail market grew slowly, affected by the European market, which experienced negative impacts during 2022. However, Mexico stands out for continuing to position itself within the countries with the highest growth rate.

In an international context, Mexico is one of the countries with the highest growth rate. Although it still has a way to go, total online sales had an increase of 13.4 percent in the retail channel, matching markets such as the US or Japan.

On the other hand, during 2022, the e-commerce retail sector in Mexico reached $528,000 million in sales through the online channel, with an annual rate of 23% compared to 2021 (27%). It is worth mentioning that the highest growth occurred from 2019 (35%) to 2020 (81%), this due to the pandemic caused by Covid-19.

In addition, the value of e-commerce retail grew 2.9% during the last four years. Only in 2022, more than 63 million people in the country already purchase products and services through the Internet, that is, 9 out of 10 Internet users made an online purchase. It is important to note that in 2018 there were only 37 million digital buyers, a figure that in five years has increased by more than 170 percent.

Regarding the profile of the digital buyer, a balance was shown in terms of gender but gaining ground in ages 18 to 24, which presented an increase of 16 percent. In the same way, it was observed that the high socioeconomic levels were the ones who had a greater increase in the purchase of products online.

The study indicates that the region with the highest volume of purchases is Mexico City, with 33% of purchases, followed by the West-Central region with 18%, and the Southeast region with 16% percent.

On the other hand, there is a strong drive for the use of unbanked methods, initially attracting young segments that are recurring Internet users, especially for entertainment activities.

As for the favorite categories to buy online during 2022, the following stand out:

• Food at home (68%)
• Moda (62%)
• Beauty and personal care (46%)
• Electronics and Toys (40%)

While in the preferred services to purchase online they highlighted:

• Banking services (78%)
• Subscription services (74%)
• Payment of services (69%)
• Telecommunications (59%)
• Urban mobility (58%)

Finally, according to the behavior observed in visits to e-commerce sites, in 2022 the number of visits grew, with discount campaigns being a significant boost to this behavior.

It is expected that by 2023, the barriers to online purchases will be lower. Since 20% of users who do not go to this type of purchase mention that the current economic situation and inflation prevent them from making this type of purchase.

fernanda.sosa@eleconomista.mx