Ipsos MENA had released interesting stats at a presentation done last week at ArabNet conference covering statistics related to e-
commerce consumption habits in the region. Ipsos is the 3rd largest market research firm in the world with over 5000 clients worldwide and a direct presence in 85 countries. Ipsos MENA is the leading market research company in the region with over 800 clients and covering more than 20 countries. The below study covers UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon.
e-Commerce Entrepreneurs are upbeat about its prospects in the region.
- UAE has the highest penetration of e-Commerce Internet users (46 percent) followed by Kuwait (35 percent) and Saudi Arabia (25 percent)
- Interestingly in Kuwait 19% of the e-Commerce Users ( which is 35 percent) shop online
- Money Transfer is the most popular e-Banking service used in the region followed by Balance Cheking and Paying Bills.
- Kuwait leads the Money Transfer and Pay Bills category @ 52 percent.
- Airline Tickets are the most popular purchased service in the region followed by Cinema Tickets and Hotel Bookings
- Online Auctions seems to be very popular in Egypt; 35 percent of the internet.
- Clothes are the most popular purchased item online across all the countries; Egypt taking the lead on this front (69 percent)
- Souq.com is the most popular website in the region. Some other names making their mark are Cobone.com, Sukar and MarkaVip.
Hello;
Very nice presentation but I have a question how they are collecting their money after having it in VISA, MASTERCARD or PAypall account.
I heared that the commission of those services are too high and paypal dosn’t support transfering money to SA banks.
Is there another way to use it in the e-comm in SA with 1-2% fees only and able to transfer the money to the local saudi bank acount.
I need to know this information please.