Internet Shoppers in Arab World Spend US$95 Million

A stunning market growth of 900 percent in the past 14 months; international retailers attract 82 percent of Arab online shoppers, whose numbers have multiplied by about 400 percent - majority of purchases were software, followed by books, PCs and peripherals, a DIT survey reveals

Consumers in Arab countries have spent up to US$95 million on goods purchased on the Internet in the past year ending April - a stunning increase of about nine folds the size of the market in 1997.

Nine percent of users have made at least one purchase during the period, compared to four percent in 1997. One third of the buyers made only one purchase. Those who made two or three separate purchases were 26 percent and 23 percent respectively. Regular and occasional buyers who made more than three purchases accounted for 18 percent of all shoppers.

Shoppers spent from as little as $1 - for subscribing at an entertainment Web site - up to $20,000, on a bundle of PCs and peripherals. Total sums spent by shoppers in the sample throughout the twelve months reached $95,000 - an average of $1,056 per shopper. The sample represented 0.1 percent of the total number of Internet users in the Arab World, estimated at about one million.

The majority of participants in the survey - 48 percent - said one of the main reasons they decided to shop on the Internet was the availability of consumer products not found in their local markets. Ease of making a purchase was reported by 45 percent of the respondents, followed by the convenience of comparing products, 32 percent, comparing prices, 24, and ease of payment, 21 percent.

Credits: DITnet