Every year, Hot Sale becomes Mexico’s largest consumer behavior laboratory. Millions of Mexicans reveal how they want to pay, what they fear, what holds them back, and what motivates them to buy.
The findings from the Hot Sale® 2025 Pulse Study (AMVO & Netquest) reveal a landscape with direct implications for the entire Fintech, banking, and retail ecosystem that will gather on September 23–24 at FINNOSUMMIT 2026.
Mexico’s Consumers Are More Banked Than We Think
According to the study, debit and credit cards dominate both online and in-store purchasing channels.
In online purchases:
- Debit cards (45%) and credit cards (44%) lead by a wide margin.
In physical stores:
- Debit cards (38%) and credit cards (35%) also top the list.
This demonstrates that Mexican consumers are far more integrated into the formal financial system than many studies projected five years ago. The narrative of a “mostly cash-based market” is being replaced by a more nuanced — and more optimistic — reality.
But there is a second, less celebrated and more urgent reading: cash did not disappear; it simply migrated. Cash-on-delivery remains the third most-used payment method in physical retail in Mexico (29%), and cash payments at retail chains continue to appear both online and offline.
This means there is still a significant segment of Mexican consumers who either do not trust — or cannot access — digital financial instruments to complete transactions.
And that segment is exactly where Fintechs and retailers must work together.
Digital Wallets: The Bridge Nobody Expected
Nearly 4 out of 10 shoppers used a digital wallet during Hot Sale 2025 — a figure that would have seemed overly optimistic just three years ago, but today reflects market reality.
The breakdown is revealing:
- 24% used stored-value eWallets (Mercado Pago, BBVA Wallet, Spin by Oxxo, Cashi, Stori).
- 12% used pass-through eWallets linked to cards (PayPal, Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Visa Mobile Banking).
Digital wallets are becoming the first formal financial instrument for millions of people. Spin by Oxxo and Cashi — brands born from convenience stores and telecom ecosystems, not traditional banks — now rank among the top five stored-value wallets in the country.
This is the result of decades of physical presence in communities where banks never truly arrived.
For the Fintech sector, this confirms a core hypothesis: financial inclusion does not happen inside a bank branch. It happens at the point of sale, inside the retailer app, and during the e-commerce checkout experience.
The Problem Nobody Wants to See: Half of Consumers Wanted to Buy More — But Couldn’t
Here is the data point that should shake the entire industry:
5 out of 10 digital shoppers wanted to buy more during Hot Sale 2025, but did not.
The reasons fall into two major categories:
Supply-side barriers (38%)
- Out-of-stock products
- Insufficient discounts
- Unattractive promotions
- Better deals in physical stores than online
Operational issues (26%)
- Consumers did not learn about the sale in time
- Shipping costs were too high
- Payment method failures
- Delivery services unavailable in their area
- Technical failures on websites
And when we examine the barriers affecting people who did not participate in Hot Sale at all, the picture becomes even more complex:
44% due to limitations and lack of access
- No payment card
- Could not find what they were looking for
- Did not hear about the event
- No one available to receive the order
- Insufficient inventory
26% due to lack of attractive promotions
- Offers did not meet expectations
17% due to fear and distrust
- Fear of fraud
- Fear of entering card information online
- Fear that products would not arrive or would arrive damaged
- Distrust in return processes
These three groups of barriers essentially define the full agenda that retail, logistics, insurance, and Fintech sectors must address together at FINNOSUMMIT 2026: the meeting point for financial innovation that is now opening itself to the broader real economy.
Why Fintechs and Retailers Need to Be in the Same Room
For decades, the financial industry made the mistake of believing that banking people meant bringing them into a branch, opening payroll accounts, or issuing credit cards.
The Hot Sale 2025 data proves that model is being overtaken by reality.
Today, the true point of interaction between consumers and financial services happens inside shopping experiences, marketplaces, apps, and digital ecosystems.
That is why Fintechs and retailers can no longer operate separately. They must build together the new infrastructure powering digital commerce across Latin America.
To better understand how this ecosystem is evolving and which trends will shape the future of the sector, Finnosummit has launched the:
“Strategic Guide for Retailers and Fintechs on the New Era of Digital Commerce in LatAm.”
And if you want to connect with the leaders building the future of commerce, payments, and cross-industry convergence, we look forward to welcoming you at FINNOSUMMIT 2026.
📍 September 23–24
📍 Expo Santa Fe, Mexico City