Internet in Mexico, Starting a Long Journey

Great… more and more people are using the internet in Mexico. My question is… why are there no big mexican sites? All (or most) of the sites mentioned bellow are from the US, Argentina or Brazil.

At the moment, the most popular retail destination by far is the Argentine website MercadoLibre.

MercadoLibre is part of a trend in the country; the Brazilian shopping comparison tool BuscaPé also has one of the largest reaches within the market, alongside big North American players such as Amazon, Ticketmaster and Apple. Recent news confirms that Latin American e-commerce companies pay attention to the Mexican market. One example is the Brazilian online travel agency ViajaNet, which recently confirmed it would soon launch operations in Mexico. Indeed, comScore points out travel as one of the segments which has the highest growth potential – this category’s reach is very limited compared to North America and there’s no clear market leader.

Another Brazilian company interested in the Mexican market is the popular daily deals website Peixe Urbano (see our previous story). The group, which had already expanded its footprint to Argentina, recently launched a local version of its platform, pezurbano.com.mx. It’s entering Mexico at a time when group buying and flash sales are very popular, albeit somewhat volatile. Clickonero is the website which grew the most in this category, while competitors such as Groupalia, Groupon and Privalia weren’t as lucky. What will happen remains to be seen.

Do you think now is a good time for foreign companies to enter the Mexican market?