There's a market with 130 million people, a middle class that grew by nearly 13 percentage points in six years, 79% internet penetration, and an Amazon marketplace where page-one rankings can still be won with a fraction of the reviews you'd need in the US.
That market is Mexico. And right now, most US brands are completely ignoring it.
We manage Amazon accounts on Amazon Mexico every day at BSR Commerce. What we see on the ground is almost surreal compared to what sellers deal with on Amazon US — lower ad costs, thinner competition, categories that are genuinely undersupplied. And a buyer base that is young, mobile-first, and spending more online every quarter.
This isn't a “you should expand internationally someday” post. This is a specific argument, backed by specific numbers, that the window to establish first-mover dominance on Amazon Mexico is open right now — and it won't stay open much longer.
The Numbers That Made Us Pay Attention
Amazon Mexico generated more than $3.5 billion in revenue in 2023, and by 2026 is projected to surpass $8.2 billion in GMV — a 34% increase from 2024. The broader Mexican e-commerce market hit approximately $54 billion in 2025 and is on a trajectory to reach $175 billion by 2034, compounding at roughly 18–21% annually.
Internet penetration hit 79%. Digital buyer penetration stands at 64% today, projected to reach 68% by 2030 — meaning there is still a massive wave of first-time online shoppers entering the market. That's not saturation. That's a runway.
This Is What Amazon US Looked Like in 2016
If you've been selling on Amazon US for more than five years, think back to what it felt like in 2016–2018. CPCs were cheap. Getting to page one didn't require 500 reviews and a $50,000 launch budget. Most categories had one or two real competitors. You could launch a private label product, run Sponsored Products at $0.30 a click, get 40 reviews in 60 days, and own a category for two years before anyone noticed.
That era ended. Amazon US today has over 1.1 million active US-based third-party sellers competing where average CPCs run $1.04 to $1.50 for Sponsored Products and north of $2.50 for Sponsored Brands. Review counts on page one in competitive categories routinely run into the thousands.
The Ground-Taking Phase
Average CPCs on Amazon Mexico run 40–50% lower than Amazon US benchmarks. In many categories we manage, we see effective CPCs in the $0.40–$0.70 range that would cost $1.20–$1.80 in the same category on .com. We regularly see products ranking on page one with fewer than 50 reviews. In some categories, ten reviews and a properly optimized listing is enough to land in the top five.
The sellers who moved into Amazon US in 2016–2018 are now category giants with thousands of reviews, established BSR ranks, and Brand Registry protections that make them almost impossible to displace. Those same structural moats are being built on Amazon Mexico today — by the brands smart enough to move early.
Who's Actually Buying on Amazon Mexico
Mexico's middle class grew from 27.2% of the population in 2018 to 39.6% in 2024— a 12.4 percentage point increase in six years. That's tens of millions of people who moved into a spending bracket where discretionary online purchases become normal behavior, not a luxury.
The buyer profile skews young and mobile. 78% of e-commerce transactions in Mexico happen on mobile devices. The largest demographic cohort shopping online is 25–44 years old, educated, urban, and increasingly comfortable with US brands. In fact, US brand recognition is often a selling point in Mexico — consumers associate American products with quality in a way that can accelerate conversion compared to local alternatives.
Amazon is the #1 most-visited e-commerce site in Mexico, ahead of MercadoLibre, Walmart.com.mx, and Liverpool. The infrastructure is there. The buyers are there. The competition isn't.
The Competitive Landscape: Why “Low Competition” Isn't Just Talk
Categories that have hundreds of active, well-reviewed sellers on Amazon US often have fewer than twenty on Amazon Mexico — and many of those are underfunded, with weak listings and thin review profiles. The majority of listings were either auto-translated from English, built by Chinese cross-border sellers with no local market knowledge, or are from established Mexican brands that haven't invested in listing optimization.
Review Threshold
Page-one rankings can be won with 10–50 reviews in most categories — a fraction of Amazon US.
Keyword Bids
Many high-volume Spanish-language keywords have almost no sponsored competition. Organic rank comes faster.
Listing Quality
Most competing listings are auto-translated or keyword-sparse — a properly built listing stands out immediately.
A+ Content
On Amazon US it's table stakes. On Amazon MX it's still a genuine differentiation advantage.
What It Actually Takes to Launch
The two biggest hesitations we hear from US brands are logistics and regulatory complexity. Both are real — but neither is the blocker people think it is.
Fulfillment:Amazon's FBA network in Mexico now covers fulfillment centers in Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Toluca, with Prime delivery coverage across major metro areas. You can ship into Mexico FBA the same way you ship to US FBA, with additional customs documentation.
Regulatory:Since January 2025, Mexico's SAT requires foreign-based sellers to appoint a legal representative domiciled in Mexico for VAT and customs obligations. It's a real requirement — and a solved problem for BSR Commerce clients, not an obstacle we work around.
A well-prepared US brand can be live on Amazon Mexico within 60–90 days of deciding to move. The operational lift is real but not extraordinary.
Who Should NOT Expand to Amazon Mexico (Yet)
Credibility requires saying this clearly: Amazon Mexico is not the right move for every brand right now.
- ✗If your Amazon US business is struggling: Fix the foundation first. Expanding to Mexico will multiply problems, not fix them.
- ✗If you won't localize properly: Auto-translated Spanish listings hurt more than they help. Mexican Spanish has specific colloquialisms that differ from Google Translate output.
- ✗If your product margins are razor-thin: MX won't save you. You'll still need a launch budget to build velocity and reviews.
- ✗If you have genuine regulatory risk: Supplements, children's products, and food items may have COFEPRIS requirements that add time and cost.
- ✗If you're planning to set it and forget it: Amazon Mexico rewards active account management the same way Amazon US does.
The Window Is Real — and It Will Close
MercadoLibre is investing $3.4 billion in Mexico in 2025. Amazon committed billions to its own logistics expansion. Walmart earmarked $6 billionfor its Mexican network. These aren't bets on a maybe — these are bets by the largest retail platforms in the world on a market they believe is about to scale dramatically.
The brands that establish themselves before that happens — that accumulate reviews, earn BSR rank, build customer loyalty, and claim the ad real estate before it gets expensive — will own their categories the way early Amazon US movers own theirs today.
The brands that wait until Amazon Mexico “looks like an established opportunity” will find themselves doing what everyone on Amazon US is doing now: fighting over scraps, paying $1.50 CPCs, and wondering how the category leaders got so entrenched.