OXXO Now Sells Pretzels. But Beneath the Surface, It's Reshaping Mexico's Retail

Where shelves once overflowed with snacks and sodas, a new counter now shines. Behind the glass, golden pretzels curl into shape, glazed with butter and sprinkled with coarse salt. The air, once neutral, now carries the scent of freshly baked wheat. It's not a bakery—but it wants to be.

This warm corner inside an OXXO store is no coincidence. It's a calculated move, part of a strategy the convenience store chain has perfected for over a decade.

OXXO's latest step in this evolution is its partnership with Brezelbäckerei Ditsch GmbH. The German company, with more than a century of experience baking pretzels, now has a space inside OXXO with a clear goal: to turn impulse cravings into habitual purchases.

The company has tested similar initiatives before. In 2016, it introduced Tacos de Canasta La Abuela to select stores, boosting sales by as much as 20%. Before that, it made an even bigger bet: in 2013, OXXO's parent company acquired 80% of Gorditas Doña Tota, and in 2024, it began integrating the brand into its stores.

The store-in-store model has proven its effectiveness time and again. It doesn't just expand the product lineup—it reshapes how customers navigate the store, making them stop, browse, crave, and spend more. It's a formula OXXO has fine-tuned over the years, optimizing every square meter to maximize sales.

Today, OXXO operates just under 23,000 stores across Mexico, covering approximately 2.4 million square meters of retail space. At least 10% of that footprint is located inside major shopping centers, according to company data and SiiLA.

With a platform of this scale, OXXO's strategy moves in two directions. On the one hand, "foodvenience"—hot, ready-to-eat food designed to drive sales and make its stores more appealing, more frequently visited, and more indispensable. On the other, store-in-store—where every partnership is more than just a product placement. It's a market test in disguise, a commercial experiment without the risk of developing a product from scratch. If it works, OXXO can replicate it, acquire the brand, or implement a service without bearing the direct inventory costs. And if it hasn't happened already, it could soon become an additional revenue stream—whether through commissions, as seen with financial services like Nu and TransNetwork, or through even more lucrative strategic agreements.