Cokes, smokes and clicks: How Oxxo corner stores are cashing in on Mexican e-commerce

FILE PHOTO - An Oxxo convenience store attracts late night customers in Mexico City, July 30, 2003.REUTERS/Henry Romero/HR

MEXICO CITY: Stroll the aisles of any Oxxo in Mexico and you will find the staples of convenience store sustenance: beer, cigarettes, enough candy to keep dentists at full employment. 

Look closer and you will see this old-school chain is a linchpin of the country's e-commerce. The retailer, with more than 17,000 locations throughout Mexico, has cracked two of the biggest barriers to online shopping in the developing world: payments and pickup.