• Stripe offers support for the most popular payment methods in Mexico, including cash-based methods, meses sin intereses, and bank transfers.
  
• Stripe’s range of products is optimized for the unique opportunities and challenges of doing business online in Mexico.
  

MEXICO CITY—Mexico is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing ecommerce markets. It is also one of the most challenging, and global companies aiming to enter it need a trusted partner with deep local knowledge.

Stripe has been building financial infrastructure tailored to Mexico for years, an effort it recently enhanced with the integration of two popular Mexican payment methods: bank transfers and installment financing called meses sin intereses (interest-free months). Stripe’s range of financial tools makes it easier than ever for businesses to succeed in Mexico.

"Stripe is the right product for us to expand internationally, fast and seamlessly, by providing our clients a more efficient and secure checkout process,” said Natalia Molina, ecommerce director at Agua Bendita, a swimwear brand from Colombia that sells with Stripe in Mexico and other parts of the world.

Big opportunities, big challenges

Mexico has many economic strengths: the world’s tenth largest population, an anticipated 77 million ecommerce users by 2025, and economic integration to the US and Canada through the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The country’s ecommerce market is projected to be worth more than $60 billion by the end of this year, and it’s growing fast: For the last three years Mexico has been among the top five countries in the world with the fastest online retail growth.

Although some of the country's financial infrastructure still depends on legacy technology, Mexico is progressively updating and innovating to adapt to new market demands. But there are challenges. Mexico has complex business and credit card regulations, a wide range of preferred payment methods, and the ecommerce market contends with fraud rates that greatly exceed the global average.

It’s nearly impossible for businesses to navigate these obstacles on their own. Partnering with Stripe and its team of Mexican experts means they don’t have to.

More ways to pay

Stripe accepts the most widely-used payment methods in Mexico, including popular online and in-store cash-based methods, and meses sin intereses, which allows credit card users to split purchases over multiple months. Offering a seamless MSI checkout can require finding a UX/UI designer and a developer, but Stripe users only need to change settings in the Stripe Dashboard—no code required.

Bank transfers are another new feature. They are the heart of global money movement but cause substantial operational friction: Businesses can spend hundreds of hours on transfer confirmations, reconciliation, and refunds. But not businesses on Stripe. Bank transfers are now part of the Stripe Payment Intents API, featuring auto reconciliation and refund support, and can be used with Stripe Invoicing, Billing, and Connect.

"Stripe’s bank transfers product enabled us to scale quickly with our customers in Mexico without having to deal with the complexities of overseas payments as we expand globally. We receive great customer support and highly recommend it to any startup that is building in the region,” said Alice Deng, cofounder and chief product officer at Slope, a Buy Now Pay Later platform for businesses.

Along with this expanded suite of payment options, Stripe is speeding up payout times in Mexico. Eligible users can now get paid in three days, providing businesses with a healthier cash flow during a period of economic slowdown.

Optimized for Mexico

Ecommerce fraud is increasing around the world. A recent Stripe report found that the problem is especially acute in Latin America, where fraud rates are 97% higher than in the US and Canada, and 222% higher than in Asia-Pacific.

Stripe’s suite of products includes Radar, which uses machine learning algorithms trained on billions of transactions on the Stripe network to sort legitimate transactions from fraudulent ones. From 2019 to July 2022, Radar saved merchants in Mexico nearly $250 million in potential fraud. Radar is fully integrated into Stripe accounts and makes it easy for even non-fraud experts to make sense of their risk evaluations.

It’s one more way Stripe functions as an all-in-one solution for thriving in the Mexican ecommerce market.

“Stripe provides full visibility into all of our payments and much-needed transparency around risk and fraud. Stripe also gives us more control over our backend payments processes so we can identify and reduce payments friction, improve our conversion rates, and more easily reach our revenue targets,” said Ana Montoya, head of UX at GAIA, an online designed furniture store.