Andrawes Snobar, AAG senior research analyst and team leader, commented that the UAE's e-commerce users penetration was the highest among the countries studied. It stood at 25.1 per cent, followed by Saudi Arabia (14.3 per cent), Kuwait (10.7 per cent) and Lebanon, which had the lowest penetration of e-commerce users with 1.6 per  cent of the total population.

The UAE also had the highest average amount spent per capita over one year.

In information made available to Khaleej Times here it was explained that the analysis was based on major online and face to face surveys conducted by AAG during 2007.

Total number of e-commerce users in these four countries exceeded 5.1 million people in that year.

During the second half of 2007, the Group conducted several major analytical surveys which separately covered Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Lebanon.

The surveys of Saudi Arabia and the UAE were conducted online. Respondents received an email shot in their inbox to ask them to fill the survey and answer questions online. Both surveys were conducted on the general Internet population, including both genders and all age groups across the two countries. The request to fill the survey was sent randomly to a database of Internet users in the Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Those two online surveys yield a confidence level of 99 per cent with a margin of error of less than 3 per cent.

As for the surveys of Kuwait and Lebanon, these involved face-to-face interviews with respondents from different households in the different governorates of the two countries, selected randomly in a manner proportionate to the estimated population split per governorate. Respondents in those two surveys were 15 years old and above, and were cellular service users. Those surveys provide deep insights into the telecom usage patterns in Kuwait and Lebanon. The random surveys have a 99 per cent confidence level with a less than 6 per cent margin of error.

Lebanon had the lowest e-commerce expenditure per capita per year and per month due to a low penetration of e-commerce users in the country.

However, Lebanon registered the highest e-commerce expenditure per e-commerce users. The Arab Advisors Group believes that the e-commerce users in Lebanon are in the pioneer/early adopter categories hence tend to be much wealthier and better educated than the rest of the population translating into higher spending per e-commerce user.

Another survey by AAG titled 'Saudi Arabia Internet Users and E-Commerce Survey 2008' revealed that Saudi Arabian consumers spent $3.28 billion online in 2007.

The survey report was conducted via e-mail and included 1,919 respondents. 

"Saudi Arabia's large population, its booming economy and increased Internet adoption provide an ideal context for a thriving e-commerce scene," said Jawad Abbassi, general manager of AAG.

"Our major survey of Internet users in Saudi Arabia revealed a massive size for B2C e-commerce in the country which presents opportunities for global and regional e-commerce players to tap into this growing market," Abbassi said.

The report found that 42 per cent of e-commerce purchases were made through a credit card. An additional 11.5 per cent of purchases were made using an Internet shopping card.

BY HABIB SHAIKH

© Khaleej Times 2008

 

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