How to cope with the new consumption trends in the UAE? These key points cannot be missed

To understand how SMEs in Middle Eastern countries have evolved and managed during the pandemic, Visa surveyed SMEs in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan and released the "2021 Small Business Recovery" report.

New research from Visa shows that three-quarters of UAE businesses are optimistic about business recovery, with 82% believing that investment in digital payments is key to business recovery and saying their investments in digital payments have paid off.

Since last year, all industries have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and those without online businesses have been even more severely affected. Various epidemic prevention and control measures have locked people at home, and various offline supermarkets, entertainment centers, and gyms have had to suspend operations.

In order to meet the needs of daily life and work, people began to use online e-commerce to buy various things, and global e-commerce has ushered in explosive growth. At the same time, people's consumption behavior has gradually formed new trends. In short, adapting to people's new consumption norm has become the key point for enterprises.

The study showed that the majority of businesses surveyed said they had seen a shift in consumer spending during the pandemic, with 93% saying they had seen an increase in contactless digital payments, while 87% and 78% said demand for takeout and home delivery had increased, respectively.

In order to adapt to changes in people's consumption, companies are also actively making changes, especially retailers. 38% of retailers have established their own online business to cope with the epidemic; more than half (58%) of merchants provide home delivery and pickup services during the epidemic, and half of them choose to attract and retain customers through discounts and promotions .

Shahebaz Khan, general manager of Visa UAE, said: “It is encouraging to see businesses remain optimistic about business recovery in 2021. The adoption of digital payments and proactive response to other consumer needs are critical for businesses to move from ‘survival mode’ to ‘recovery mode’.”

Since February this year, the situation of private enterprises in the UAE has eased. However, according to IHS Markit data, only 6% of companies in the UAE have a positive outlook in the next 12 months, which is still relatively sluggish overall.

middle East

United Arab Emirates