ANTAD Outlines 7 Strategies for Retail 2030 in Mexico

Diego Cosío, Executive President, ANTAD, has outlined seven strategic pillars for the retail landscape through 2030, including revenue diversification and advanced omnichannel integration to capture a 10.1% e-commerce growth rate and 72% multichannel engagement among Mexican consumers.

Diego Cosío, Executive President, ANTAD, presented a comprehensive roadmap for the reinvention of the commerce sector at the Mexico Ecommerce and Retail Summit 2026. The strategy calls for 124 major chains to diversify revenue models in order to maintain market resilience amid increasing macroeconomic and competitive pressures.

The transition reflects a shift toward retailers evolving into providers of essential infrastructure that complements public services. "ANTAD’s pharmacy network already outpaces Mexico’s federal healthcare system in consultations," says Cosío. This scale highlights the necessity for the industry to expand beyond traditional retail functions and play a more systemic role in the economy.

ANTAD identifies six forces currently driving change within the consumption industry: an increasingly complex consumer profile, a reconfigured social structure, exponential technological advancement, industry-wide disruption, mounting environmental pressures, and shifting geopolitical dynamics.

These factors require companies to move from “serve with purpose” — traditionally understood as addressing authentic customer and stakeholder needs — to a more advanced model that goes beyond transactional relationships, building intimacy, advocacy, and market share on an individualized, data-driven basis.

This evolution allows retailers to leverage strategic assets such as brand strength, data, and infrastructure to enter adjacent categories like financial services, telecommunications, and healthcare, a trend already visible among leading global retailers.

This transformation is particularly critical as Mexico’s demographic transition, including an aging population and rising middle class, generates new opportunities in the health, beauty, and cosmetics sectors.

Commerce Imperatives and Projections to 2030

Cosío outlines seven principles to compete effectively in the future of retail. First, companies must serve with purpose by defining an authentic mission that resonates across stakeholders and aligns with long-term value creation. Second, they must embrace a “customer epiphany,” building intimacy and market share one consumer at a time. Third, retailers must excel at Omnichannel 3.0 by pushing the boundaries of seamless, integrated experiences across physical and digital touchpoints.

Fourth, they must grow beyond trading to achieve resilience through revenue diversification. Fifth, organizations must "tech up" by adopting a digital-native mindset and embedding continuous test-and-learn capabilities. Sixth, they should play "talent tetris" by shifting from a resignation mindset to one focused on retention, reskilling, and performance-based incentives. Seventh, they must continuously recharge by scaling operations while maintaining disciplined cost structures.

Research by Kantar indicates that 73% of Mexican consumers shop across more than six channels. This level of engagement positions Mexico as a regional leader, where the Latin American average for multichannel engagement is only 32%.

The consumer journey in Mexico involves a variety of touchpoints, including traditional stores, small grocery stores, hypermarkets, pharmacies, convenience stores, and e-commerce platforms, underscoring the fragmentation, and opportunity, within the retail landscape.

Within the non-grocery industry, CEOs have identified clear priorities to secure market position by 2030. A 2024 State of Retail survey reveals that 71% of respondents consider the creation of a true omnichannel shopping experience the primary success factor. Other critical priorities include developing a compelling private label offering (32%), reinventing the store experience (26%), and adopting advanced analytics and AI applications (26%) to drive personalization and operational efficiency.

Cosío identifies new revenue streams that leverage existing B2C and B2B assets. In the B2C segment, retailers are tapping into discretionary spend through entertainment, food delivery, travel, and pet services. In the B2B segment, corporations are monetizing data, tech solutions, and cloud services. Media and advertising, along with financial services and payments, represent the most immediate opportunities for margin expansion and ecosystem development.

Mexico is projected to dominate growth in North America with a 10.1% increase in e-commerce sales, reaching US$63.71 billion by the end of 2025. This growth rate is significantly higher than that of Canada (6.0%) and the US (5.0%). EMARKETER forecasts that retail e-commerce penetration in Mexico will exceed 20.8% by 2029.

Purchasing behavior is increasingly concentrated in mobile applications. As ANTAD reveals, the leading categories for mobile app purchases include clothing, shoes, and accessories (62.5%), food and beverage (58.4%), and health and personal care (57.0%). Digital buyers in Latin America utilize a multichannel research approach before finalizing purchases. Search engines (37.7%) and social media (35.4%) are the primary research tools, followed by digital marketplaces (33.9%).

In the social commerce landscape, Facebook remains the platform of choice for 55.1% of social buyers in Latin America. However, TikTok has emerged as a formidable challenger with a 44.0% share. TikTok was the top social commerce platform for more than six in 10 social buyers in Brazil and Mexico, reflecting its rapid influence on purchase decisions, particularly in markets where TikTok Shop is currently available.

Leadership and the Theory U

The "Retail 2030" vision requires a shift in leadership philosophy. Cosío emphasizes the importance of Theory U, a social technology of presencing developed by Otto Scharmer. The process involves suspending past patterns to listen with depth, moving from "downloading" to "sensing," and ultimately “crystallizing” actionable new visions.

To innovate effectively, Cosío also recommends that retailers address the inhibitors identified in Cracking the Curiosity Code by Diane Hamilton. This requires identifying and eliminating internal barriers such as fear, rigid assumptions, and organizational silos that limit innovation and adaptability.

“Companies must move from subjective opinions to data-driven insights and strategic questioning,” says Cosío. “Leaders must execute, learn, and correct models in real time.”