E-Commerce in Mexico Grows, But Requires Some Coaxing of Consumers Anthony Harrup - The Wall Street Journal
go to original January 2, 2016

Amazon and other online retailers are using Oxxo convenience stores to facilitate e-commerce purchases by Mexican shoppers, many of whom lack credit cards. (ZumaPress.com)

While online shopping gains traction in Mexico thanks to wider Internet access and smartphone use, a dearth of credit cards and reluctance among large swaths of the population to pay for goods online are prompting Web retailers to look for creative solutions.

Online shopping represents just about 2% of the country’s roughly $203 billion in annual retail sales, according to consulting firm Euromonitor International, even as the segment’s sales have increased more than fourfold in the past five years and are expected to double again by 2020.

Payment via Internet remains a challenge for a country with just 22.6 million credit cards in a population of 119.5 million, and despite programs to expand financial inclusion, online retailers find it worthwhile to cater to customers who still prefer to use cash.

Amazon.com Inc., which launched full-fledged Mexican operations in June, began to offer gift cards in December that can be bought for cash at thousands of Oxxo convenience stores operated by beverage and retail giant Femsa, as Fomento Economico Mexicano is better known.

The Seattle-based online retailer also reached an agreement to accept Oxxo’s own prepaid cards. In two years, Oxxo, which has more than 13,000 stores across the country, has placed with consumers two million of the cards associated with accounts at Citigroup Inc. unit Banamex.



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