UAE online shoppers spend more on cross-border shopping during Ramadan

Ramadan every year is the biggest sales season of the year in Muslim countries.

According to data released by Statista , online sales during this year's Ramadan reached $6.2 billion, up 39% from last year . This year's online sales during Ramadan accounted for 16% of the global total ( compared to about 34% for Black Friday) .

Data from Meta Platforms' collaborative research with market research firm YouGov shows that online consumers in the UAE spent more on cross-border shopping during this year's Ramadan .

Data shows that the acceptance of new brands and products by online consumers in the UAE has increased significantly, with 69% of Ramadan consumers "excited to try new brands and products from abroad . " Not only that, 47% of consumers in the UAE made cross-border purchases during Ramadan .

The reason why UAE online consumers choose to shop across borders is to find products with higher quality, better prices or that are not available in the local market. This has led more than 70% of UAE online consumers to make unexpected discoveries during Ramadan.

Among them, smartphones are the most commonly used shopping tool, accounting for 82%, followed by desktop or laptop computers, accounting for 38%.

87% of respondents said they planned to increase spending on groceries , which increased its share to 14% from 11 % previously , while spending on fashion, home furnishings and electronics also increased .

It is worth noting that more and more online consumers in the UAE choose cross-border shopping, which is inseparable from the booming local e-commerce market.

Among the countries in the Middle East and North Africa, the e-commerce scale of the UAE and Saudi Arabia accounts for 74.7% of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Among them, the UAE accounts for 45.6 %, which is the largest proportion of e-commerce scale in the Middle East and North Africa . The development potential of this market cannot be underestimated.

At the same time, the UAE has one of the highest Internet penetration rates in the Middle East (over 90%), with an annual growth rate of 25%.

Not only that, the local logistics industry is also very developed. The local government of the UAE has vigorously developed air and ground transportation and currently has a strong logistics infrastructure.

All these provide good conditions for the development of cross-border e-commerce.

The highly-watched UAE e-commerce market is currently showing strong growth trends.

According to statistics, the total e-commerce volume in the UAE exceeded US$5 billion in 2021 , and is expected to exceed US$8 billion by 2025.

Sellers who are paying attention to the UAE market can seize the current opportunities.

Ramadan

E-commerce market in the UAE