Hypermarkets in Mexico

PROSPECTS

Slowing growth as players invest in e-commerce and buy online, pick-up in store

Hypermarkets saw a strong slowdown in growth in 2019, with only a slow current value increase. This is partly because most hypermarkets are investing a great deal in e-commerce.

Hypermarkets remain close to consumers and offer a wide range of services

In Mexico, hypermarkets are mostly located very close to consumers, on main avenues or between residential areas, and the latest trend is that they can even be found inside shopping centres, in contrast to other countries, where they tend to be located far from where people live or work. Hypermarkets used to have a separate location with a large parking lot, but now consumers can also find other outlets nearby, such as restaurants, a travel agency, pet shop, launderette, specialist retailers and banks, amongst many others.

Hypermarkets continue to work on differentiation

Hypermarkets in Mexico still operate with the traditional format of aisles and cashiers, with a person in charge to receive the payment. The automated stores with self-payment that are popular in other countries are not part of the mid-term plans of hypermarkets.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Walmart maintains its lead by diversifying and improving its services

Besides being a grocery retailer, the leading player in hypermarkets, Wal-Mart de México, is innovating in terms of services. In late 2018, the company announced the launch of its new app Cashi, targeting the underserved population.

Soriana opens and closes stores and offers free Wi-Fi to gather data

Organización Soriana has finished integrating Comercial Mexicana into its operations, and most of the old Comercial Mexicana brands have disappeared. Although it opened many new stores, Soriana closed a few of the old Comercial Mexicana outlets to maximise its store network, and in fact was the only major chain to close stores in 2018/2019.

Imported products and its app are key focuses for La Comer

As part of its marketing strategy, La Comer has created the programme Country Fair, which offers imported products in different categories to consumers for several months. For instance, consumers have had the opportunity to enjoy products from the UK, Italy and France.

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