Merchants’ Digital Shopping Features Losing Fight Against Friction in Mexico

Smartphones are front and center of the retail conversation in Mexico. Local shoppers use their phones at nearly every point throughout their in-store and online retail journeys, not just to pay at the point of sale, but also to locate items in-store, track their eCommerce purchases via app and more.

Local merchants know how essential smartphones are to their customers, and they are going out of their way to provide smartphone-based shopping features — so why are so many shoppers in Mexico unhappy with their most recent purchases?

The 2022 Global Digital Shopping Playbook: Mexico Edition, a PYMNTS and Cybersource collaboration, provides an inside look into how consumers in Mexico browse, shop, pay for and acquire their retail purchases. It is based on a survey of a census-balanced panel of 2,137 consumers from across Mexico. The survey asked consumers about their most recent shopping experiences to discover which digital shopping features they want most, which their merchants provided and how local businesses should work to close this gap and optimize their chances of conversion.

Key findings from our research include the following:

• Mexico is one of the world’s most mobile-centric eCommerce markets. Forty-one percent of in-store shoppers use smartphones to assist their in-store shopping experiences in Mexico, and 46% of consumers use their smartphones at some point during purchase.

• Merchants in Mexico lead in digital feature implementation, suggesting they understand how mobile experiences influence shopping habits. Seventy-two percent of Mexican merchants offer in-store navigation apps, for example, and 68% offer real-time inventory status updates.

• Local merchants’ shopping experiences are more friction-laden in Mexico than in nearly any other country, and Mexican consumers’ lack of awareness of digital features is partially to blame. Mexican consumers are 18% less likely on average to realize these features are available than local merchants are to offer these features.

These findings are just a few of the firsthand insights that PYMNTS uncovered in the course of our research. The 2022 Global Digital Shopping Playbook: Mexico Edition details what merchants in Mexico get right — and wrong — about omnichannel and mobile-first commerce.

To learn more about how merchants in Mexico can tailor their digital feature offerings to boost sales, download the report.