In 2018, Mexico is home to more than 130 million people. Although GDP per capita is quite low, Mexico has a growing economy with a strong middle class having more disposable income than the previous generations.
According to the Latin America eCommerce Report 2018 launched by the eCommerce foundation, Mexico has become the largest e-commerce market in Latin America, with an approximate $21 billion annual spend. This number makes a huge part of the region's annual $71.2 billion spending.
To put it in numbers, e-commerce volume in Mexico grew 900 percent from 2009 to 2015.
E-commerce in Mexico takes place via websites, apps but also via instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and leads generated on social media.
Having the highest annual earnings from e-commerce in the region, the number is expected to grow in response to improvements in connectivity, better financial inclusions and increased digital literacy.
Mexico is followed by Brazil with $18.86 billion annual spend, Argentina with $6.83 billion, Colombia with $4.93 billion, Chile with $3.7 billion and Peru with $3 billion.
Across the continent, e-commerce giant MercadoLibre is the dominating platform when it comes to the place where people spend their money online. MercadoLibre had 56.3 million unique visitors in May alone, this was significantly more than Amazon that had 22.4 million visitors.
MercadoLibre popularity in Latin America has made it difficult for other e-commerce site, including Amazon to get a grip on the online market.
Both MercadoLibre and Amazon are the top online sellers in the region, and the majority of Mexican online shoppers make international purchases. 70 percent of them prefer to pay for their products via Paypal. The rest either use cash, debit or credit cards.
One of the reasons behind this massive growth is from the increased population and also the higher rate of internet penetration across the continent. Latin America has an average of 59 percent of its population using the internet.
Argentina here sits at the top spot with 71 percent of Argentines using the internet on a regular basis. This is followed by Chile, Uruguay and Costa Rica tying for second place with 66 percent, and Ecuador a bit behind with 54 percent.