The Mexican economy took a significant hit from the coronavirus pandemic and associated restrictions but one big winner in 2020 was e-commerce.
Helped in no small part by stay-at-home recommendations, online sales were projected to reach US $18.8 billion in 2020, according to a November report by German market and consumer data company Statista. The figure is almost 32% higher than e-commerce sales in Mexico in 2019, which totaled $14.26 billion.
According to Statista, spending on electronics and media was projected to be $5.88 billion in 2020, or almost a third of the total e-commerce expenditure.
The predicted outlay on fashion items purchased online was just under $4.52 billion, while $3.44 billion was expected to be spent on toys, hobbies and DIY products and $3 billion on furniture and appliances.
Just over $1.93 billion was projected to be spent online on food and personal care.
Statista also predicted that a total of 50.7 million Mexicans would make online purchases in 2020, an 8.8% increase compared to 2019. Market penetration was predicted to be 39.3% of the population, up from 36.5% last year.
A co-founder of Triciclo, a marketing agency that specializes in e-commerce, said that growth in the sector during the pandemic was equivalent to what was expected over a period of two years. Renata Raya said that some small and medium-sized businesses saw their overall sales increase by as much as 500%.
“Those that had a physical store were forced to enter the world of…
