Amazon Plans To Roll Out Food And Drinks On Mexico Site

To attract customers in a still emerging eCommerce market, Amazon plans to start offering drinks and food in Mexico. The items are said to include sweets, snacks and beverages, Reuters reported.

“We’re committed to offering our clients as many products as we can,” Amazon Mexico Senior Product Manager Fernando Ramirez said in a statement.

In Mexico, eCommerce shopping makes up only a small portion of all retail sales. However, the segment has grown quickly, and Amazon, along with its competitors, is seeking to ramp up its focus on technology, product offerings and logistics. Amazon’s move, in particular, could help the retailer vie with Walmart de Mexico.

Amazon rolled out its Mexico site in 2015. Its new selections encompass wines, beers, teas and coffee, in addition to non-perishable foods. Loup Ventures Research Head Gene Munster said the new rollout shows the eCommerce retailer wants to take a larger slice of spending from its customers in the country.

“Non-perishables are the first step to capturing food spending, and likely indicate Amazon’s ambitions to increase its offering related to fresh food,” Munster told Reuters.

At the same time, former Amazon Executive Vivek Sagi has been named the chief technology officer of marketplace RetailMeNot. At Amazon, Sagi served as head of product and engineering for business procurement solutions and worked with Amazon’s B2B marketplace, among other projects. Sagi also worked for Amazon’s Woot.com as CTO, RetailDive reported.

Before joining Amazon, Sagi worked at multiple startups, such as Vungle and NewBrandAnalytics, and also worked for Deloitte Consulting. His arrival at RetailMeNot follows the promotion of three other executives at the firm, moves that may allow the company to grow in new ways.

“Vivek is an experienced executive with a drive for growth, and his entrepreneurial spirit is a great match for our culture and company,” RetailMeNot, Inc. Founder and CEO Cotter Cunningham said in a statement. “I look forward to what he can help RetailMeNot accomplish as we become the ultimate consumers’ savings destination to save on everything from retail, dining and groceries to prescription pharmaceuticals.”