Mexico’s New Consumption Landscape: Forces Shaping the Future
In Mexico, consumption habits are changing. Families are smaller, incomes and expenses have shifted unevenly, and households are allocating their money differently than before. Fresh products, health-related items, and personal care categories have gained importance, while processed goods are losing ground. These changes reflect a new way of living and consuming.
At the same time, digitalization and the growth of electronic payments have transformed how people shop, expanding access to the formal market and accelerating the adoption of e-commerce. However, this dynamism comes with risks: the growing use of consumer credit has pushed delinquency to historic levels, threatening the sustainability of household spending.
This article analyzes how demographic, financial, and technological shifts are transforming the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market in Mexico, using the ENIGH 2024 database as a reference (INEGI, 2025).
I. Structural changes in Mexican households and their effect on consumption
Mexican households are changing in size—3.35 vs. 3.66 members—and composition. ENIGH 2024 shows that the average household size has decreased compared with a decade ago, reflecting demographic trends such as lower birth rates and an aging population. This shift directly affects consumption decisions, as smaller households tend to prioritize quality and convenience over volume.
In parallel, average quarterly household income grew 10.8% between 2016 and 2024, while total expenditure rose 14%, indicating increasing pressure on household budgets. Lower-income deciles have improved due to expanded government transfers (México Cómo Vamos, 2025), though these benefits remain vulnerable to fiscal or political changes.
While income gaps related to gender, ethnicity, and disability persist, they are slowly narrowing, expanding the consumer base and diversifying purchasing patterns. Digitalization has become a structural element of consumption; the rise of digital payments and the online economy allows more households to access the formal market, broaden their purchasing options, and optimize their budgets (Antom Knowledge, 2025).
Together, these demographic, economic, and technological changes are redefining how Mexicans acquire goods and services, influencing both the quantity and quality of what they consume.
II. Reconfiguration of household spending: from the essential to the meaningful
Household spending remains concentrated in food, which represents 38% of income (El Economista, 2025), but consumption patterns within this category have shifted. Consumers are increasingly preferring fresh foods—meats, fruits, vegetables, eggs—over ultra-processed items with low nutritional value. This shift reflects growing awareness of health and well-being, trends accelerated during and after the pandemic.
Spending on cleaning, hygiene, and personal care products has also grown faster than processed foods, driven by the perception that self-care and hygiene are key components of overall well-being (Kantar, 2024).
Another notable change is the rising value placed on local and Mexican-origin products, associated with authenticity, trust, and sustainability (Milenio, 2025). This cultural preference benefits brands that emphasize traceability and regional identity, strengthening connections between consumers and national producers.
Internationally, emerging markets show similar trends: consumers prioritize healthy, sustainable, and personalized products, and seek coherent omnichannel experiences (AllThingsInsights, 2025). Mexico aligns with this context, with households purchasing more rationally and selectively, seeking value, convenience, and purpose in every spending decision.
III. Emerging trends in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market
The FMCG market is undergoing transformation across three dimensions: value, format, and purpose.
1. Value
Consumers seek a balance between price and quality. They no longer rely solely on cost, but also evaluate performance, utility, and durability. According to Kantar (2024), this drives higher turnover among mid-tier brands and those providing added value.
2. Format
The rise in small households is boosting demand for smaller pack sizes, practical products, and efficient packaging, which helps manage resources and reduce waste.
3. Purpose
Brands with social or sustainability-driven messaging are gaining ground. The Food Tech (2025) reports that the most-chosen brands in Mexico were those communicating closeness, environmental responsibility, and community commitment.
Digitalization further amplifies this shift. McKinsey & Company (2025) notes that global consumers are more digital and less loyal, prioritizing convenience and shopping experience. In Mexico, this is reflected in the rapid expansion of e-commerce.
According to Mexico Business News (2025), Mexican e-commerce continues to grow steadily each year, driven by a young, connected population with increasing trust in online shopping. This, combined with the rise in digital payments (Antom Knowledge, 2025), is redefining FMCG sales channels and creating opportunities for small brands and entrepreneurs.
IV. Opportunities and challenges for FMCG companies
Companies in the sector face several factors that represent both growth opportunities and challenges:
Opportunities
· Portfolio diversification toward expanding categories: health, cleaning, fresh foods, and personal care.
· Format and pricing adaptation, with affordable pack sizes, multifunctional products, and flexible strategies (Xepelin, 2025).
· Territorial focus, leveraging steady demand for essential goods in rural areas.
Challenges
· Dependence on public transfers, which remain vulnerable to political or fiscal changes.
· The need for digitalization, which requires investment in logistics, data, and technology to compete with new digital players (McKinsey & Company, 2025).
Companies that understand these dynamics and act with agility will be better positioned to sustain growth in a rapidly changing environment.
V. Household debt and consumption sustainability in Mexico
Finally, as noted above, consumption in Mexico has expanded consistently, driven by changing spending patterns, demand for higher-quality goods and services, and the growing digitalization of shopping. However, a significant part of this dynamism does not come from equivalent income growth, but from increasingly frequent use of consumer credit to finance everyday expenses.
In a context where prices of food, services, and essential goods remain high, credit has become a mechanism to maintain living standards rather than to acquire durable or non-essential items.
This growing reliance on credit is reflected in the deterioration of overdue loan portfolios, which reached 53.895 billion pesos in October 2025—the highest level reported by Banxico. This represented an annual increase of 18.5% and placed consumer credit delinquency around 3.3% of the total portfolio.
The issue is most acute in personal loans, where defaults grew more than 50% year-over-year—a clear sign of financial stress among households using credit to sustain routine expenses. This reduces their capacity to save and increases vulnerability to any economic adjustment or changes in social programs that support disposable income.
As a result, consumption stability faces a structural risk. If delinquency continues rising, financial institutions may restrict lending, immediately affecting essential and growing FMCG categories. The same mechanism—credit—that currently supports spending could become a brake if financial pressures on households intensify.
Conclusion
Consumption in Mexico is changing along with family lifestyles. Households are smaller, incomes are distributed differently, and people are more deliberate about how they spend. New preferences reveal interest in healthy, local, functional, and digital products.
These shifts create both challenges and opportunities for brands: they must adapt to consumers who seek value, accessibility, and purpose, and who shop across both physical and digital channels. Understanding these trends will be key to growing in an increasingly diverse, connected, and demanding market.
Finally, the growth in consumption in Mexico is not driven only by lifestyle changes, but also by greater household leveraging. This raises concerns about the market’s long-term sustainability: consumption is expanding, but on a fragile foundation that may limit future evolution unless families’ repayment capacity improves.
References
● AllThingsInsights. (2025, agosto). The Future of Consumer Behaviour: Trends to Watch. https://allthingsinsights.com/content/the-future-of-consumer-behavior-trends-to-watch/
● Antom Knowledge. (2025, julio 17). Mexico’s Digital Payments Economy: Ripe for Opportunity. https://knowledge.antom.com/mexicos-digital-economy-ripe-for-opportunity
● Aconcagua. (2025, diciembre 3). Bancos mexicanos reportan niveles récord de morosidad en créditos de consumo en octubre. https://aconcagua.lat/bancos-mexicanos-reportan-niveles-record-de-morosidad-en-creditos-de-conso
● Banco de México. (2025). Reporte de Estabilidad Financiera, Primer Semestre 2025. https://www.banxico.org.mx/publicaciones-y-prensa/reportes-sobre-el-sistema-financiero/%7B68ACFA8B-B604-BD70-1808-735C03A155ED%7D.pdf
● Banco de México. (2025). Reporte de Estabilidad Financiera, Segundo Trimestre 2025.
● El Economista. (2025, julio 31). En qué gastan los hogares mexicanos: alimentos encabezan la lista con 38% del ingreso. https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/finanzaspersonales/gastan-hogares-mexicanos-alimentos-encabezan-lista-38-ingreso-20250731-770595.html
● El Economista. (2025, diciembre 2). Cartera vencida del crédito al consumo en nivel histórico; creció 18.5% anual en octubre. https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/sectorfinanciero/cartera-vencida-credito-consumo-nivel-historico-crecio-18-5-anual-octubre-20251202-789364.html
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● INEGI. (2025). ENIGH 2024. https://www.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/saladeprensa/boletines/2025/enigh/ENIGH2024_RR.pdf
● Juárez, E. (2025, noviembre 5). Uso de tarjetas de crédito bancarias sigue al alza. El Economista. https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/sectorfinanciero/tarjetas-credito-bancarias-sigue-alza-20251105-785295.html
● Kantar. (2024). Decodificando las tendencias de consumo FMCG en México. https://www.kantar.com/latin-america/inspiracion/consumidor/2024-worldpanel-decodificando-las-tendencias-de-consumo-fmcg-en-mexico
● McKinsey & Company. (2025, junio 9). The State of the Consumer 2025. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/state-of-consumer
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● Mexico Business News. (2025, octubre 3). Mexico’s E-Commerce Boom: Growth, Challenges and Future. https://mexicobusiness.news/tech/news/mexicos-e-commerce-boom-growth-challenges-and-future
● Milenio. (2025). Crece preferencia por productos mexicanos entre los consumidores. https://www.milenio.com/negocios/crece-preferencia-productos-mexico-consumidores-kantar
● The Food Tech. (2025). Marcas más elegidas en México. https://thefoodtech.com/archivo/marcas-mas-elegidas-en-mexico-2025/
● Trade.gov. (2025). Mexico Consumer Goods Country Commercial Guide. https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/mexico-consumer-goods
● Xepelin. (2025). Tendencias para el consumo masivo. https://xepelin.com/blog/corporativos/tendencias-para-el-consumo-masivo
Written by: Santiago Mercado in collaboration with Ximena Moreno
