For years, many retail brands have tried to break away from the large e-commerce intermediaries. Now, even some of the world’s biggest companies appear to be accepting that controlling the product does not necessarily mean controlling traffic, distribution, or consumer access.

In that context, several companies that abandoned third-party platforms in an effort to strengthen their direct channels—such as Nike in 2019—returned to Amazon over the past year. At the same time, brands such as Adidas and Birkenstock strengthened their official stores within marketplaces, while companies including Stellantis, Volkswagen, and Decathlon expanded their presence or announced new commercial partnerships with Mercado Libre in Mexico.

More than a diversification of sales channels, the shift reflects how power in e-commerce has begun to shift away from whoever controls the product and toward whoever controls the day-to-day relationship with consumers.

Nike and Adidas’ recent results help explain that change. Both companies pushed to sell more through their own websites, apps, and physical stores in an effort to improve margins. But the market ultimately exposed the limits of that strategy.

In 2025, Nike reported a 10% drop in revenue and a 20% plunge in digital sales. Even the business operated through chains, distributors, and third-party platforms—which still represents 58% of Nike Brand revenue—declined 6%, forcing the company to rethink the balance between direct sales and commercial partners.

Adidas, meanwhile, reached a similar conclusion from a different position. Although its sales continued to grow that same year, nearly 60% of its global revenue still depended on retailers, distributors, and other external channels, leading the company to acknowledge the need to strengthen those relationships again to expand reach, accelerate product turnover, and sustain global scale.

However, the relationship is reciprocal.

As platforms such as Amazon and Mercado Libre concentrate more and more supply, logistics, and delivery speed, they also face the risk of turning products and sellers into easily interchangeable options. As a result, marketplaces increasingly need to strengthen the presence of brands that can generate identity, loyalty, and consumer connection both within and beyond their ecosystems.

In that sense, Jimena Fernández Navarra, director of architecture and interior design at Ware Malcomb Mexico, said during a recent SiiLA ACADEMY retail session that, amid digital saturation and the hyperautomation of consumption, stores and brands have started to regain value as spaces for belonging and emotional differentiation.

“The store is used as a connection with the brand. It is about creating a link where I feel I am part of something,” she explained.

The data support that trend. According to figures presented by the specialist, 52% of shoppers would engage in conversations with advisors to receive personalized product recommendations, while by 2027, half of consumers are expected to limit their interaction on social media due to the deterioration of the digital experience. Part of that logic helps explain why, even amid the expansion of e-commerce, brands continue to invest simultaneously in marketplaces, physical stores, and experiences that strengthen differentiation and permanence in an increasingly homogeneous digital environment.

The transformation is also reflected in physical space. Currently, Mexico’s 30 largest e-commerce companies occupy nearly 3.8 million industrial square meters and around one million square meters in shopping centers, according to SiiLA data. This reflects how platforms, brands, logistics operators, and stores stopped functioning as separate pieces within retail and began integrating into a single commercial infrastructure.

More analysis on retail, logistics, and commercial real estate in Mexico is available through SiiLA Market Analytics or at contacto@siila.com.mx.