Overview
Following a strong performance in May, Mexico’s retail sales experienced a slight decline of 0.4% in June, but still managed to stay positive during the first six months of 2025.
Monthly and Yearly Performance
In June, retail sales decreased by 0.4% compared to May, losing some ground after the 1.7% growth achieved in May. However, on a yearly basis, the variation remained relatively stable, dropping slightly from 2.4% to 2.3% between May and June, according to data released by the National Institute of Geography and Statistics (Inegi).
Over the first half of 2025, retail sales showed a semestral growth of 1.5% compared to the previous year, contrasting with a decline of 0.2% from January to June 2025, as per the Monthly Survey of Commercial Enterprises (EMEC) by Inegi.
Declines in Nine Categories
During May, nine out of the 22 merchandise categories and sales channels measured by EMIM experienced monthly declines.
Notably, segments of discretionary (non-basic) consumption that had seen significant growth in May experienced corrections.
- The top five categories with the largest declines were:
- Clothing, jewelry, and wearable accessories (-8.2%) after a 5.6% increase in May.
- Department stores (-5.9%) following a 13.2% growth previously.
- Used items (-5.7%).
- Interior decoration articles (-3.5%).
- Pets, gifts, religious items, and other personal-use articles (-3.4%) after a 4.9% increase previously.
On the other hand, the top five categories with the most expansions were:
- Online and catalog sales (+6.7%).
- Furniture, computing and telephone accessories (+6.5%).
- Motorcycles and other motor vehicles; parts and auto vehicle repair components (+3.2%).
- Beverages, ice, and tobacco (+3.1%).
Mixed Fundamentals
The decline in June’s retail sales coincided with a deterioration in consumer confidence, which decreased by 1.1 points monthly and has been below last year’s levels for six consecutive months, according to Inegi’s Consumer Confidence Indicator.
One of the fundamental aspects of consumption that performed poorly during the month was labor-related, as there was a net loss of 46,378 formal jobs, marking the third consecutive monthly decline according to Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) records.
On the other hand, remittances from family abroad saw a significant drop of 16.2% to $5,201 million; equivalent to 98,975 million pesos, which is 12.5% lower than the previous year’s average exchange rate of 18.21 pesos per dollar in June 2024 versus 19.03 pesos per dollar in June 2025, as reported by Banco de México.
In contrast, wages continued to show improvement, as indicated by the average salary registered with IMSS, which saw a nominal increase of 7.5% to 628.8 pesos per day, reflecting a real increase of 4%.
Key Questions and Answers
- What was the overall performance of retail sales in June 2025? Retail sales decreased by 0.4% in June compared to May, but remained positive for the first half of 2025 with a 1.5% yearly growth.
- Which categories experienced declines in sales? Nine out of 22 merchandise categories saw monthly declines, including clothing, department stores, used items, interior decoration articles, and pets-related goods.
- What were the categories with the most expansions? Online and catalog sales, furniture, computing and telephone accessories, motorcycles, and beverages had the most significant growth.
- How did consumer confidence fare in June 2025? Consumer confidence decreased by 1.1 points monthly and has been below last year’s levels for six consecutive months.
- What happened to remittances from family abroad and average salaries in June 2025? Remittances from family abroad dropped by 16.2%, while average salaries increased by 7.5%.
