Online shoppers in the Middle East and Africa spend a lot of time browsing for products on the web without buying them. The fact was revealed by Nielsen’s latest e-commerce report.
However, not only MENA consumers have a passion for browsing. According to the research, this trend is witnessed all over the world. For example, the majority of online shoppers browse more than buy when it comes to products like mobile phones, electronic equipment, sporting goods, car, motorcycle and accessories or computer software and hardware.
Nevertheless, in some categories like clothing, event tickets or hotel reservations, the ratio between browsing and buying was almost 1:1. According to Nielsen, the reason for this was that usually consumers have more specific ideas and wishes when it comes to these types of products. Therefore, they spend less time researching for them.
Online consumers in MENA are even more fond of online product browsing. As a matter of fact, only two product categories enjoy an almost equal buy-browse ratio – tours and hotel reservations, as well as airline tickets and reservations. All other types of products offered online maintain a high browse level, but rather low buy rate. That is especially the case with electronic equipment and car and motorcycle products, where the browse-buy gap is 11%.
The most browsed product category in the Middle East and Africa is mobile phones. About 40% of all online shoppers in the region were found to have spend a good amount of time browsing for handsets on the web. Barely 28% have actually purchased a mobile phone from an online retailer.
Nielsen’s report has also studied online shopping habits and trends in the United Arab Emirates. The research states that the UAE continues to have the highest internet penetration in the Middle East – 71%. As a result, online shopping in the country enjoys more popularity compared to the rest of the region.
Airline tickets and reservations are the most popular product category in the UAE, with www.emirates.com and www.qatarairways.com the most popular sites. Nearly 60% of consumers in the country have booked or purchased airline tickets via the web. Almost 50% have made tour or hotel reservations on the web. In contrast, less than 25% of shoppers in the United Arab Emirates have bought electronic equipment or physical copies of music albums or singles online.
Items that UAE consumers buy the most on the web:
- Airline tickets or reservations (57%)
- Tours or hotel reservations (48%)
- Event tickets (43%)
- Clothing, accessories and shoes (35%)
- Computer software (not downloaded) (35%)
- Mobile phones (29%)
- eBooks (28%)
- Music (not downloaded) (24%)
- Electronic equipment (23%)
