Mercado Libre to Train Small Food and Beverage Businesses

Mercado Libre will train Mexican food and beverage ventures to digitize their businesses, aiming to expand its nationwide network of sellers and buyers. With online sales of these products in Mexico growing by more than 50% since the start of the year, the initiative comes at a crucial time to support small producers in entering and thriving in the digital marketplace.

Mercado Libre, in partnership with Fundación Fibo, is inviting cooperatives, social economy enterprises, MSMEs, and ventures that produce food and beverages made in Mexico to join the CLIC initiative, a program designed to boost sales through e-commerce.

Selected participants will receive a free, personalized diagnostic assessment to evaluate their readiness to sell online, along with tailored recommendations to strengthen their business strategy. Following this initial phase, participants will enter a hands-on training process with technical support, covering topics such as digitalization, e-commerce, and logistics within the Mercado Libre ecosystem.

The program is structured to help each business move forward based on its specific context and potential. The training includes real-life case studies from local companies that are already transforming their operations, in addition to one-on-one mentoring and training in digital tools.

“At Mercado Libre, we believe in the transformative power of e-commerce and recognize that starting a business is not easy. That is why, through CLIC, we aim to support small Mexican businesses and producers in their digital transformation journey. For over 25 years, we have worked to democratize commerce and break down barriers, and we want to go even further,” said Adriana Prieto, Sustainability Manager, Mercado Libre Mexico.

The CLIC initiative is part of the company’s broader efforts under the “Voluntary Agreement for the Increase of Products Made in Mexico at Points of Sale for Final Consumers,” signed in May in collaboration with the Mexican government and other commercial sector companies.

The inclusion of small vendors is especially important considering that digital sales of food and beverage products have risen steadily since the COVID-19 pandemic. E-commerce experts believe this trend is here to stay, with continued growth projected in the coming years. Factors driving this growth include increased internet access, improved delivery services, and families adapting to new consumption habits, according to data from Statista.

Mercado Libre reports that sales of food, cleaning supplies, and personal care products on its platform have grown by 70% over the past six months, indicating a shift in consumer habits. The company also noted that more people are choosing to do their grocery shopping online: between January 2024 and June 2025, purchases of fast-moving consumer goods increased by 40% compared to the previous 18-month period.