GCC’s online retail to hit $69 billion by 2020

Inayat-ur-Rahman, Senior Staff Reporter

According to a recent study by PayFort, the GCC’s online retail revenues are expected to reach $69 billion by 2020.  “The UAE leads the way regionally in terms of online sales, with 62 percent of citizens now shopping online, and annual sales expected to reach US$23.7 billion by 2022.”

This was stated by Mauro Romano, CEO, ArabClicks, during an exclusive interview with Gulf Today.

“As we enter the era of big data analysis, digital information and transformation, we are in the necessity to implement smart solutions. The UAE government is at the forefront of smart initiatives. We are leaving in a global environment where access to information has never been so easy, therefore we need to be smart in the way we analyse and make use of this info,” he added.

He mentioned that costs for a physical commerce presence (brick and mortar model) are raising (rent, labor, multiple points of inventories etc.)  People are becoming more confident in shopping online. In the Arabic countries there are over 160 million people actively using Facebook. Over 30,000 in the Middle East are you-tubers with more than 10,000 followers

Every day there are 12 million Snapchat users in the GCC, of which 9milion in KSA. “We have launched the company few months ago and we are working hard in order to build strong foundations.  We have not yet considered any venture or partnership but we would be willing to take into consideration any strategic venture,” he added.

Answering to a question about the benefits of Dubai Expo 2020, Mauro expressed his optimism about the mega event, adding that Expo 2020 will be the third largest event after Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup and it is expected that there will be over 25m visitors during the event and market sentiment should grow positive driven by Asian investments into the country.