- Food delivery, fashion, groceries, cleaning products and electronics are the most sought after products in Mexico;
- Toys, supermarkets, department stores, fashion and sports are sales channels with increased traffic of consumers;
- At the beginning of the year, the main reason for resorting to ecommerce was convenience, now it is the risk of contagion.
As Mexican authorities started Phase 3 of the COVID-19 pandemic containment measures, which means reinforcing voluntary confinement to stem the spread of infections, 8 out of 10 consumers in the country are following the recommendations to stay at home and 55% of them are buying products and services online.
According to the Second Report on the Impact of Covid-19 in Online Sales in Mexico, carried out by the Mexican Association of Online Sales (AMVO), 5 out of 10 consumers in Mexico expect to spend the same or more on products and services during this time. However, 56% are concerned that the greatest impact of the pandemic on their lives is the loss of income.
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At the beginning of the year, the main reason for resorting to e-commerce was based on convenience and time saving, today these have become avoiding going out due to the risk of contagion, but also to avoid crowds in physical stores, said 48% of respondents.
In general, they also said that the items they have bought the most online in this period are: food delivery, fashion, supermarket, household cleaning products, and electronics.
Categories with most purchases (% of consumers)
Meanwhile, the most purchased services online are: banking services (55%), mobile telephony (51%), payment for services (47%), subscription services (41%), and urban mobility (31%).
From price to convenience
“What COVID is doing is that Mexicans who did not buy online are having to do it for the first time and that buyer, once doing so, becomes a recurring user,” said Eric Pérez-Grovas, president of AMVO, in an interview to Forbes. “Ecommerce will continue to grow. People in Mexico buy online not only because of prices. Previously, in studies we did prior to 2018, the main reason for people to buy online was price, since last year what we saw is that Mexicans buy online for convenience.”
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The study also analyses data divided by categories of retail and shows that some segments have increased the average of unique visitors week after week,. For example: Online traffic in the Food / Grocery subcategory increased the number of daily visits by 30% in the week from March 30 to April 5. The toys category presented an increase in the average of unique visitors of 37%. Other categories such as Computer Software, Sports, Fashion and Department Stores also grew over the same period.
Ecommerce sites with increased visits (% of growth, April 5 over March 29)
“With the advance of the pandemic and the entry into force of Phase II in the last week of March, we have continuously monitored the number of visitors in the different purchase categories. The drop in Travel sites stands out, as the industry is on hiatus. In contrast, sites related to food delivery continue to increase their visits”, highlights the report.
Security perception
The perception of security has also improved, both for omnichannel shoppers – those who combine physical and online purchases – and for those who only buy through physical channels. Almost 8 out of 10 Mexican buyers perceive that it is somewhat or very safe to buy online.
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Now, regarding changes to online shopping perceptions, 33% have noticed an increase in products with free shipping; 34% highlight more options for delivery and 36% say there are more payment options.
The report prepared by AMVO in collaboration with Netquest, Netrica by GfK, Comscore, Talkwalker, Nielsen and Euromonitor International.
