NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, February 16, 2015

In a bid to increase card payments and financial inclusion, Mexican banks are collaborating with mobile payments technology vendors to deploy mPOS solutions at mom-and-pop stores. The Mexican government encourages these initiatives, as around 70 percent of all purchases in Mexico are made with cash and the informal economy represents 30 percent of GDP.

Of Mexico’s 1 million grocery retailers, 64 percent are mom-and-pop stores. “Mom-and-pop stores play a major part in Mexico’s retail economy, yet they lack the tools to compete effectively with larger retailers,” Luz Adriana Ramirez Chavez, Visa Mexico’s country manager, told Mobile Payments Today. “By installing mPOS devices offering retail management software, they can have more control and grow their business. Also, when they start accepting cards, they benefit from higher sales tickets.”

In November 2014, Visa, Mexican tax authority Sistema de Administración Tributaria (SAT/Tax Administration System) and Confederación de Cámaras Nacionales de Comercio, Servicios y Turismo (Concanaco – Servytur/Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism) launched Tableta Concanaco, a scheme to provide micro-businesses and SMEs with mPOS technology. In addition to a subsidized mPOS-enabled tablet containing software providing inventory management and electronic invoicing, each business owner gets a Visa debit card on which they receive their customers’ card payments.

“So far, 20,000 tablets with iZettle card readers have been issued as part of the Tableta Concanaco scheme,” said Ramirez Chavez. “Our plan is to issue 100,000 in the first 12 months.”

In addition to the retail market, Visa also wants to provide mPOS solutions for other cash-dominated verticals in Mexico such as transport and door-to-door catalog sales, she said.