Amazon becomes Mexico's top online retailer

Amazon.com Inc

likely doubled its sales to become the biggest internet retailer in Mexico this year, helping to grow the country’s nascent e-commerce market by a third, according to a report by market research firm Euromonitor International .

In 2017 , the world’s largest online retailer will generate USD$502.2 million in Mexico sales compared with USD$243.9 million last year, the Euromonitor report said. Its findings were based on trade surveys, market studies, and data research, but excluded consumer-to-consumer sales sites, such as eBay, in its analysis.

Online sales still account for slightly over 3% of all retail sales in Mexico, where shoppers fear credit card fraud and are often paid in cash.

Argentina’s MercadoLibre Inc registered an increase of nearly 90% from 2016, Euromonitor said but it was still seen slipping to second place with some USD$489.2 million in sales. MercadoLibre did not comment on the Euromonitor figures but said its Mexican sales rose 82% in the third quarter.

In third place was Wal-Mart de México with USD$258.9 million in projected online sales, or growth of about a third.

Amazon, which formally launched in Mexico two years ago, made a push to expand its customer base in October by introducing a cash payments system .

Euromonitor forecast the Mexican online market would be worth USD$7.1 billion next year, rising to USD$14 billion by 2022.

sg