E-commerce booms in the Gulf region

What happens in Middle East Gulf region is amazing. The new crown pneumonia epidemic has profoundly affected the way people shop around the world. In the Gulf region, consumers who used to prefer offline shopping and cash payment have gradually become accustomed to shopping online, and e-commerce has developed rapidly. The consulting company "Kearney Middle East" predicts that the total value of e-commerce in the Gulf region will reach 29 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 and will reach 50 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2025.

Affected by factors such as economic development level, residents' consumption power, Internet penetration rate and other factors, the development level of e-commerce in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other countries is in a leading position among many Arab countries. In 2016, the Saudi Sovereign Fund Public Investment Fund (PIF) united with UAE investors to establish Noon, a large-scale e-commerce company, and it has now become one of the most influential brands in Saudi Arabia. During the epidemic, platforms such as Mrsoul in Saudi Arabia, Snoonu in Qatar, Tawseel in Kuwait, InstaShop in the UAE, and MarkeetEx in Oman have rapidly emerged. Statistics show that the number of e-commerce websites in the Gulf region has tripled in five years, with an average annual growth rate of 32%.

The fast-developing e-commerce industry has put a lot of pressure on logistics, transportation, payment and settlement, laws and regulations in the Gulf region. In response to these problems, governments of various countries and e-commerce companies have worked together to deal with them, and have achieved significant results.

On the one hand, the government actively introduced safeguard measures. For example, in response to the uneven quality of goods on e-commerce platforms, the Saudi government has stepped up its crackdown on counterfeit products. Last year, the Saudi Intellectual Property Office, together with taxation, customs and other departments, destroyed about 5 million products that violated intellectual property regulations to protect the rights of brand owners and consumers and maintain the order of e-commerce platforms. The United Nations Economic Society for Western Asia (ESCWA) report pointed out that the Gulf Cooperation Council countries have established e-commerce policies and legal frameworks. In order to protect consumers' demand for digital payment, Saudi Arabia launched the instant payment system IPS this year, and launched the instant payment system Sarie in cooperation with IBM and MasterCard.

On the other hand, e-commerce companies are also actively exploring and promoting the localization of industry experience. In response to the impact of the epidemic on the logistics supply chain, Noon built its own warehouses following the Amazon model, while subcontracting terminal logistics to local express companies, optimizing operations, improving quality and efficiency.

Analysts believe that for oil-producing countries in the Gulf region, e-commerce is an important growth point in the non-oil economy and is of great significance for promoting economic diversification. Overall, although the local e-commerce industry has a strong momentum of development, there is still much room for improvement and improvement. The top priority is to provide a better policy environment for the development of e-commerce. The United Nations Economic Society for Western Asia (ESCWA) survey found that the lack of coordination among trade agencies in the Gulf region has caused serious problems for e-commerce practitioners. The conclusion of a regional free trade agreement will help solve the tariffs and consumers faced by the cross-border e-commerce industry. Specific issues such as protection, taxation and regulatory coordination. The GCC summit held at the beginning of this year proposed to strengthen the integration of the Gulf economy and improve the Gulf Customs Union and the common market. If relevant policies are implemented, the e-commerce development environment in the Gulf region will be further improved. And let's promote tiktooky wearable blanket hoodie business to that rising region asap.