MAYS IBRAHIM (ABU DHABI)
The UAE ranks 45th globally in e-commerce market size, poised to reach a revenue of $6.721 billion by 2024, according to insights released by ECDB, a specialised e-commerce data analytics company.
The market is projected to maintain a robust compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.7%, reaching $9.378 billion by 2028, according to ECDB.
It stated that the UAE’s e-commerce sector is expected to contribute significantly to the global growth rate, with a projected increase of 9.0% in 2024.
ECDB’s analysis highlights seven key markets within the UAE e-commerce sphere, with electronics leading the pack, accounting for 33.3% of total revenue, followed by fashion (30.2%) and grocery (17.0%), hobby & leisure (8.4%), care products (3.8%), DIY (3.7%), and furniture & homeware with the remaining (3.7%).
Its market insights further shed light on the online share in the UAE’s retail market, currently equal to 14.4%, and set to rise by an average of 3.4% to 16.5% by 2028.
“The online share refers to the proportion of the retail volume that is transacted via the Internet. It includes purchases via desktop PC, tablet or smartphone, both via website or app. Only retail of physical goods is taken into account.”
Notably, the biggest player in the UAE e-commerce market is amazon.ae, generating a revenue of $635.9 million in 2023, according to ECDB.
It stated that cards emerged as the most commonly used payment methods by online retailers in the UAE e-commerce landscape in 2023, with VISA Mastercard enjoying a share of 96.2% and American Express accounting for a share of 49.0%.
Other commonly used payment methods in that market are Cash on Delivery with 71.2% and PayPal (E-wallets) with 36.5% of stores offering that payment method to the clients.