Souq.com, Cobone.com, Sukar.com – Top 3 in the Middle East
PayPal: Key Takeaways on E-Commerce in the Middle East
PayPal launched its operations in the Middle East late last year, and according to regional managing director Elias Ghanem, it found little data available on the nascent e-commerce space. So on Monday, it launched research on the market in conjunction with market data company Ipsos: surveying consumers in the region and taking feedback from businesses. Here are some key takeaways from the report.
– There are 110 million internet users in the Middle East and North Africa, of which 30 million are shopping online already. PayPal estimates a total population of 350 million.
– Spending online in the Middle East and North Africa will grow from $9 billion in 2012 to $15 billion by 2015, of which $3 billion will be paid for on mobile, from $500 million today.
– Travel tickets are currently the biggest spend for shoppers online in the Middle East, with an average of $1,521 spent each year, followed by $250 on consumer electronics.
– About 10% of purchases in the Middle East are made on a tablet or mobile, and 90% at a computer.
– Trade between online shoppers in the Middle East and businesses based in the region makes up only 10% of total spend. The rest is customers buying from outside the Middle East and delivering to the region.
– About 80% of online purchases in the Middle East are made with cash on delivery. Credit and debit cards make up 15%, and PayPal the remainder.
– Souq.com, Cobone.com and Sukar.com are the three biggest locally-based e-commerce sites in the Middle East, based on average annual spend.
– Online shoppers in the Middle East spend the most annually on Amazon.com of any international website. About 35% of all online purchases are made with businesses based in the United States.
– The United Arab Emirates is the largest e-commerce market in the Middle East, with consumers spending $2.9 billion online last year.
– Two-fifths of consumers in the Middle East cite security as their biggest concern when shopping online.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, http://blogs.wsj.com/middleeast/2013/09/23/paypal-key-takeaways-on-e-commerce-in-the-middle-east/
About the Author
SayginYalcin Saygin is the Founder & CEO of the Middle East's (ME) first & largest car buying service, SellAnyCar.com and Founder of the first & largest online private shopping club in the ME, Sukar.com, which has been acquired by Souq.com, making him Partner at the Souq.com and Jabbar Internet Group, becoming the largest ecommerce company in the Arab world, with 3000+ employees. In its largest acquisition outside the US to date, Amazon.com has acquired Souq.com Group. He has been selected as a UBS Industry Leader, a network of Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individuals. He was also Advisory Board Member & Academic Lecturer of Entrepreneurship at the Canadian University of Dubai. He was referred to as "the region's online business guru" by the National newspaper in the UAE, while Arabian Business named him as "one of the region's finest young entrepreneurs and a major part of the entrepreneurial scene in recent years". Fortune magazine (mag) named him in the 40 under 40 list, as one of the most influential young people in business, Entrepreneur mag ME awarded SellAnyCar.com, with Saygin at its helm, as the "Fastest Growing Company in the ME", while the National newspaper sees it among a handful of tech companies to "have the potential to break the $1bn barrier". In a cover story, Entrepreneur mag ME titled him as "undoubtedly one of the youngest & most successful internet entrepreneurs in the ME”, awarded SellAnyCar.com as "Technology Innovator of the Year”, while Khaleej Times awarded him as the Technology Leader. Gulf Business selected him as 1 of the Top 10 Entrepreneurs in ME. In a cover story, Arabian Business counts him as 1 of the most successful entrepreneurs to call Dubai home. During the World Government Summit, HH Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed, Minister of Interior of the UAE, presented Saygin as an inspiring story for the country, in the presence of world leaders, incl. HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Related Posts
‘Sitting on a goldmine’? World’s first number plate valuation tool launches in Dubai, trading platform to follow →
Dubai’s A1 car number plate most searched in world’s first digital valuation tool →
The Founder Of SellAnyCar.com Has Not Taken A Day Off In A Decade →
