An opportunity for industry leaders and newcomers
With the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent multiple lockdowns, this phenomenon has developed faster than ever. Before the sanitary crisis, approximately 2.3 percent of supermarket shoppers used exclusively online delivery, a proportion that increased to about 17 percent during the first months of the pandemic. Accordingly, the mobile site of the country’s market leader – Walmart – saw its traffic grow by 63 percent between March and April 2020.
Before the pandemic, the Mexican division of the American conglomerate was already strongly positioned on the web. Along with its competitors Soriana and Superama, Walmart topped the list of leading online supermarkets in 2019. In line with these figures, the three companies ranked on top of digital ad spending in the supermarket and convenience store industry. Beyond these major chains, newcomers have been increasing their visibility. Jüsto – the first delivery-only grocery store in Mexico – is for instance among the most funded grocery services in the Latin American market.
Young adults with high income levels
Despite being a fast-growing market, online grocery shopping in Mexico is currently centered around a specific demographic sector: relatively young adults with higher income levels. According to a survey carried out in 2020, nearly half of online grocery shoppers earned high salaries, while only around 23 percent of them practiced low-paying professions. In addition, most users were between 25 and 44 years of age, a segment of the population opened to digitalization and encompassing a large part of the working force. As of today, it remains to be seen how the market will evolve in order to conform with the needs and preferences of other Mexican socio-economic sectors.
