Argentinian eCommerce firm MercadoLibre will be investing $1.1 billion to expand in Mexico, Reuters reported. The expansion will help boost warehouse space and services in Mexico.
That figure is around three times the $420 million MercadoLibre spent last year in Mexico, with the market there being one that is growing rapidly and where the company is trying to stay ahead of rivals like Amazon, according to the report.
With the investment, MercadoLibre will double its warehouse space and bolster FinTech services like consumer credit, creating over 4,700 new jobs in the process, per the report.
Although MercadoLibre’s main market is Argentina, in the fourth quarter of 2020, Mexico saw more business for the company, the report stated. The company has ramped up its delivery network in Mexico and opened a fourth distribution center, which is a 60,000-square-meter (645,835-square-foot) site in the northern state of Nuevo Leon.
By the end of 2020, the company operated around 210,000 square meters (2.26 million square feet) of warehouse space, primarily located in the outskirts of the Mexican capital, according to the report.
MercadoLibre’s fourth quarter earnings underscored the success of the online marketplaces that serve as gateways to the online experience for many nations around the world. Cash-heavy economies have begun harnessing the potential of the eCommerce markets, which come with a framework to move to digital.
MercadoLibre is a regional player and making moves to go global. Mercado Pago Chief Operating Officer Paula Arregui told PYMNTS last year that open banking would be “undoubtedly” the new standard upon which societies would soon operate.
MercadoLibre is Argentinian, but neighboring Brazil has a flourishing eCommerce scene, too, with a PYMNTS survey finding that the people in Brazil are highly mobile-friendly, which could serve as a path to more eCommerce adoption.
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