ICLE on Mexican COFECE E-Commerce Market Investigation
MEXICO CITY (12 September 2025) — Mexico’s Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE) has concluded its market investigation in digital e-commerce, with a majority of commissioners voting against imposing any remedies due to a lack of consensus regarding the investigation’s findings.
International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) Senior Scholar Mario Zúñiga notes:
While we commend the COFECE plenary for exercising prudence in this investigation—ultimately refraining from corrective measures—it is important to note that the investigative authority’s report on the e-commerce market employed an extremely narrow market definition (including only “marketplaces and multi-category online stores”) that ignores important substitutes, such as specialized online stores and traditional retailers (with online and offline relevant sales channels). This definition leads to a misguided finding of “dominance”.
Furthermore, certain behaviors or business models that have been considered “barriers to entry” (such as the presence of preferential display or preferential purchasing mechanisms for certain products, or vertically integrated logistic solutions) are actually a factor of competition: pro-competitive vertical integrations that differentiate platforms, enable cost savings, and provide concrete benefits to consumers in form of lower prices and a more seamless shopping experience.
We also recommend this March 2024 Truth on the Market post on the COFECE investigation by Mario and ICLE President Geoffrey A. Manne, as well as their April 2024 comments to COFECE.
To schedule an interview with Mario, contact Jim Fellinger at [email protected].
About ICLE
The International Center for Law & Economics is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center working with a roster of more than one-hundred academic affiliates and research centers from around the globe. ICLE scholars promote the use of law and economics methodologies to inform public policy debates.