Mexico’s Antitrust Watchdog Decides Against Corrective Measures for Amazon and Mercado Libre

Mexico’s antitrust watchdog Cofece reportedly found that Amazon and Mercado Libre create barriers to competition for sellers on their platforms but said it will not order corrective measures.

These decisions followed Cofece’s investigation into the country’s eCommerce market, in which the two companies account for a collective 85% of total sales, Reuters reported Friday (Sept. 12).

It was reported in February 2024 that Cofece said in a preliminary report on this topic that the government should order Amazon and Mercado Libre to take corrective measures to ensure competition in the eCommerce market.

According to Friday’s report from Reuters, Cofece ruled Friday that Amazon and Mercado Libre harm competition by failing to provide enough information to sellers about how the determine which products are featured and by giving more visibility to sellers who use the platforms’ logistics services.

However, the regulator also said that it would impose no sanctions on the companies because it was uncertain if consumers and small businesses would benefit from it taking such measures, per the report.

Fernanda Ramo, deputy general counsel and director of legal affairs at Amazon Mexico, told Reuters, per the report: “We are pleased with Cofece’s decision not to impose corrective measures, which underscores the competitiveness of the retail sector in Mexico and the absence of barriers to competition.”

Mercado Libre said in a Wednesday (Sept. 10) press release that more than 1 million Mexican entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) see Mercado Libre and Mercado Pago as a channel to grow their businesses and access financial solutions.

In a report issued in conjunction with the company’s Mercado Libre Experience event in Mexico City, the company said that in 2024 its eCommerce and financial ecosystem contributed about 0.81% of Mexico’s GDP and that the economic activity of SMBs on its platform in the country exceeded $15 billion.

“Our focus is clear: we want to build local solutions that solve real challenges—logistics, payments and credit—that enable [SMBs] to operate in the digital economy,” David Geisen, general manager of Mercado Libre Mexico and senior vice president of Hispanic Marketplace, said in the release. “Data shows that the Mercado Libre ecosystem increases economic activity, creates jobs and accelerates financial inclusion across the country.”