Western Union advances brick-and-mortar push with Mexico rollout

The news: Western Union opened up eight more physical locations in Mexico, per a press release.

At the stores, customers can send remittances for collection in cash, bank account deposits, or mobile wallets. They can also collect up to $10,000 in transfers.

The bigger picture: Investing in brick-and-mortar locations is part of Western Union’s Evolve 2025 strategy. While that includes a shift to digital, a key part of it is also leveraging its retail business as a gateway to the company.

• Retail locations can help to bring in new customers and tie users closer to the brand by cross-selling other products in-person.
• At the end of 2023, Western Union opened 100 new retail locations in Europe. It plans to "significantly expand” its locations through 2025.

Why this matters: Brick-and-mortar stores can also help Western Union better meet customer expectations.

• About 38% of remittance customers said they receive their remittances at a walk-in location, per a MoneyGram survey conducted in June 2024.
• This share bumps up to 45% for Hispanic remittance recipients.

This demand is likely due to many consumers’ continued reliance on cash, especially in less digitized markets.

Our take: Bringing this strategy to Mexico can also help Western Union grow its payments volume, given the country’s vast remittance market.

We expect remittance inflows to Mexico to reach $70.14 billion in 2025, per our forecasts. Western Union already has a strong presence in the US, where the vast majority of Mexico’s remittances come from. The US-Mexico corridor is the largest remittance corridor globally.

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