Saudi Arabia and UAE, the fastest growing markets for online payment transactions, have seen 40% and 24% year-on-year growth respectively, according to “State of Payments in the Arab World” report issued by PAYFORT, an online payment service provider. Transactions in the airline sector increased by 18% from 2014 to 2015, in the travel sector by 39%, in the ecommerce by 31% and in the entertainment by 34%. In the entertainment sector, UAE had about ten times the volume of online shopping transactions in 2015.
Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE all have more than 50% acceptance for online payments, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE at 58% and 71% respectively. Airline bookings and B2B marketplaces saw the highest acceptance rates in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with ecommerce proving most popular in Egypt, travel services in Kuwait and Jordan, travel and entertainment in Lebanon and airlines, entertainment and B2B marketplaces being most accepted in the State of Qatar.
The UAE continues to lead with 71% of the country shopping online, whilst in Jordan only 50% of population are online. However, there are some clear differences between consumer habits and preferences country-to-country. For example, the top two product categories bought online in the UAE are flight tickets and clothes, whilst in Egypt these are mobile phones and utility bills, in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia the top two items purchased are flight tickets and utility bills.
17% of respondents complete their entire shopping journey online and 67% rely on online research. Nine out of ten consumers surveyed said that they check product reviews online before making an online purchase. Cash-on-delivery remains the preferred method of payment for 51% of Arab shoppers: a percentage that soars to 70% in the case of online shoppers in Egypt.
Credit card adoption in Kuwait and the UAE have the highest penetrations, with 97% and 89% respectively. Qatar and Saudi Arabia have about 45% adoption and Lebanon just 15%. Most consumers registered a significant level of confidence in payment security and confidentiality, although much less confidence in online privacy.
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