Nearly every user on the web in the United Arab Emirates prefers shopping, banking and doing financial transactions on their computers, tablets and smartphones. And a staggering 71 percent of all Internet users shop online, according to the results of a new survey.
Online shopping has become extremely popular among people in the UAE, although the country has an impressive number of shopping sites, including the large shopping malls in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Besides the huge variety of in-store options, people prefer going online, at least according to the a recent survey, conducted by B2B International and Kaspersky Lab. 71 percent of all Internet users in the UAE shop online, reveals the poll. But shopping isn’t the only popular activity online. Nearly 98 of all users admit they enjoy “the ease and convenience” of shopping, banking and paying for various things on the web – booking airplane and train tickets, purchasing movies, games and songs, organizing finances, and so on.
With 71 percent of the people buying their stuff online, shopping is the most popular activity on the Internet. 67 percent of users also admit they regularly use online banking, while 55 percent of them say they pay for products and services through their PCs, Macs, tablets and smartphones.
These results support previous research findings, which claimed that around 83 percent of Internet users in the Middle East and North Africa region use the web on a daily basis and 53 percent of them research products, their prices and specifications online. However, according to Ahmed Galal Ismail, Chief Executive Officer at Majid Al Futtaim, only 9 percent of the shoppers in 2013 said they made purchases in the past year.
The portion of online shoppers will rise in the coming years. Auromonitor and Goldman Sachs predict that by 2030, 19 percent of the sales of apparel in the MENA region will come from e-commerce. The UAE and Qatar are the top markets for regional and local retailers and the trend will remain strong due to the increasing popularity of technology and the economic development of these countries.
