Mexico City.- Starting a business in the south of the country is already complicated, and selling products online is even more complicated due to the low penetration of this technology in the region.
At the national level, the states with the lowest percentage of households with internet are Chiapas, with 38.4 percent; Oaxaca, with 47.4 percent, and Guerrero, with 53.6 percent, according to the National Survey on Availability and Use of Information Technologies in Homes (ENDUTIH) 2022, presented last month.
In contrast, Mexico City was the entity with the highest percentage of households with internet, with 86 percent.
This disparity creates a barrier for the products of entrepreneurs in the south to reach other areas of their own state, the country or the world, through electronic commerce, said Héctor Pérez, president of Cadena Empresarial Enlazadot, which groups micro, small and medium-sized companies (SMEs).
Added to this is the fact that not everyone knows how to use technology, which is why they prefer physical commerce.
Even if entrepreneurs themselves have internet access, they are unable to market their products online because potential buyers in their sales area often cannot connect to the network, Perez said.
Another barrier to online entrepreneurship is that business owners do not consider it important to place their products online because websites charge them a commission.
In response to this, in the middle of last month, the Mexican Postal Service (Sepomex), together with the Postal Union of the Americas, Spain and Portugal, launched the Correos Clic e-commerce platform.
Mexican products and crafts can be sold there, without entrepreneurs registered in the federal government’s social registers having to pay commissions.
For the expert, logistics is another challenge for entrepreneurs in the south, since shipping products is complicated, especially in remote communities.
He considered that in order to promote the use of the Internet, digital adoption courses could be carried out on a mandatory basis so that more and more entrepreneurs become familiar with this tool and take advantage of it.
#Selling #online #difficult #entrepreneurs #south
