Consumption grows in Latin America, but commercial brands lose ground

Latin America recorded its 11th consecutive period of growth in mass consumer goods consumption in the second quarter of 2025, with a volume increase of 1.6%. Despite this positive performance, only 41% of commercial brands managed to gain new shopping occasions—the lowest rate recorded in the last five years. This is according to the new edition of the Consumer Insights 2025 study, produced by Worldpanel by Numerator.

This duality reflects the current consumption landscape in the region. The Latin American shopping basket has become more fragmented, with consumers exploring more channels (an average of 9.5 per year) and more brands (97 different ones), but with a lower purchase frequency—80% of categories recorded a decline in this indicator.

Regarding channels, e-commerce, discount stores, and cash-and-carry wholesalers are the only formats sustaining growth in frequency, with increases of 9%, 8%, and 4%, respectively. Together, they accounted for an additional 500 million shopping occasions compared to the previous year. The traditional channel, on the other hand, was the main contributor to the decline, with a drop of 14%.

Mainstream brands, in fact, were the most impacted by this new consumer behavior, with a decline of 5.6% in purchase frequency and 3% in the number of units per customer. In contrast, premium and private-label options advanced both in frequency (0.9% and 1.4%, respectively) and volume (4% and 9%).

"The study shows that 95% of the brands that grew in volume did so by gaining household penetration—which reaffirms the importance of reaching new buyers as the primary lever for growth. However, the combination of household penetration and frequency has proven to be the most efficient strategy, as 50% of the companies that grew for two consecutive years adopted this approach," emphasizes Marcela Botana, Director of Market Development for Latin America at Worldpanel by Numerator.

It is also worth highlighting that Latin American consumer behavior has shown itself to be more open to experimentation. Over 90% of categories gained household penetration in 2025, even amidst the trend of lower purchase repetition. Growth is more concentrated among non-essential categories (81%), but also reaches essential ones (70%), indicating that there is room for expansion even in mature markets.

The quarterly Consumer Insights report continuously monitors the consumption behavior of Latin Americans, focusing on the food, beverage, cleaning products, and health and beauty segments. The second quarter 2025 edition includes data from nine markets: Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic), Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru.