Online sales in Mexico grew by 80% in 2020, and they’ve since kept growing by over 20% every year. Amid this trend, neighborhood corner shops, laundromats, and office supply stores have become an essential intermediary between online shoppers and the massive e-commerce companies that ship and deliver the products they buy.
When e-commerce truly got going in the country back in 2015, companies like MercadoLibre and Amazon quickly realized its logistics infrastructure wasn’t developed enough. For instance, Mexico’s national postal service has a countrywide network and is very cheap, but it is also largely unreliable. Meanwhile, private couriers like UPS or DHL also have a large network of pickup and delivery points, but they’re pricey — almost five times more expensive than the postal service.
