3 Themes to Look out for in 2022

These supply and demand trends have placed the Direct to consumer (D2C) channel on a pedestal of growth and this segment already accounts for ~15% of online retail in key e-tail markets in METAP.

MENAT Gaming: Doubling XP

The supply side is gearing up to tap into the massive opportunity which is unfolding, through localization, technology investments and eSports events

Quick Commerce: MENA’s Hidden Gems

Q-commerce with sectors that already have the necessary digital infrastructure and consumer awareness in the MENA region expands the market potential for quick commerce to encompass a $100 Bn opportunity .

The BNPL wave is rising

The BNPL sector has scaled well – we estimate USD 0.6 Bn of GTV will be processed in MENA in 2021

The Revival of Tourism

We expect the sector to multiply 4x from 2020 levels to represent a USD 165 Bn market by 2025

Monetizing shortform, the Tiktok way

Social and video media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube soon followed providing consumers with new ways to interact and brands adopted those platforms for ads.

MENA Q-commerce: Unlocking $20bn

MENA Q-commerce market is expected to grow by 24% to reach $20bn as consumers continue looking for convenience and immediate gratification.

eGrocery: Pureplay Etailers drive growth

In a span of one year, we have seen the KSA eGrocery market grow from negligible share in 2019 to 1% in 2020. However KSA’s eGrocery maturity still lags compared to other economies.

QSR Market: Always Adapting to Change

QSR’s are usually met with the trade-off between focusing on their own app vs a marketplace app. Each have their own pros and cons. Broadly, having one’s own app creates better control of the brand, greater engagement with the customer but it is a high cost and effort activity in terms of building a userbase and capabilities.

Keeping up with the consumer

Q-commerce has enabled consumers to try new online categories because of its convenience thus increasing the share of wallet.

Q-commerce | The Demand For Speed

Q-commerce is a market defined by very fast delivery from local shops, restaurants, and dark stores. It is usually characterized by under 2-hour delivery.

Social Media Spend Goes Mainstream

Social media now accounts for almost half of the digital advertising spend in the MENA region. We expect that in 2021, social media ad spend will overtake non-digital/traditional media spending in our region.

Retail-Tech – The next start-up opportunity

This is reflected in the ~15-25% increase in online shoppers in the first few weeks of lockdown. ~30-50% of the customers increased their online purchase for the essential categories.

How MENA is shopping post COVID-19?

Lockdown measures have led to growth for e-tail. The growth rate during the lockdown has been ~20% by order volume and ~40% by value resulting in annualized GMV of $11 Bn.

Ramadan and Covid-19 Pandemic; an ordeal for retail

E-tailers generate ~25% of their annual GMV during Ramadan time, which when compared with White/Yellow Friday sale, stands at ~5%. Brands also realize the importance of Ramadan where many engage in activities such as launch of new products, new services, bundling of offers. A third of their annual marketing budget is spend in promotion of the same.

MENA gearing up for Ramadan – Fashion insights

1. Fashion shopping in Ramadan peaks during Eid week Fashion is the most exciting retail category, when it comes to Ramadan shopping in MENA. Excitement levels for clothing are high throughout the festival season, however it peaks during the Eid week. When this trend was studied at country level, UAE and KSA followed the same […]

Middle East Online Retail comes of age (Part 2)

1: Niche models gain traction Noon and Amazon have emerged as the key players in the online marketplace in the region. However, niche players have also emerged who either have a specific focus on customer segment, category or business model. Some niche marketplace examples are around grocery, value focussed, pre-loved fashion and gifting: 2: Electronics continues to […]

Middle East Online Retail comes of age in 2019

Insight 1: Fast-paced etailing market growth in 2019 Online retail market grew at a fast pace this year compared to last few years – greater than 35% this year compared to ~25% annually over the last few years.

November Online Festive Sales Expected to Soar

There are four key insights that we want to highlight from our study: Published on: Nov 2019 Customer excitement for the November sales season in both UAE and KSA is at its highest with 90% of digitally active customers showing interest in this year’s sales season. November Festive days online GMV is expected to clock […]

The 3A’s shaping the food service market of UAE

Published on: Nov 2019 Food service market of UAE is ~$ 15 Bn in size. The market took a hit in revenues during early 2018 due to implementation of VAT, but the sector is back on track to provide a stellar performance going forward. We expect the key drivers to be – 1. Increased adoption […]

GCC – World’s first omni-channel superapp?

GCC – a unique market showing characteristics of both developed and developing markets GCC countries have most of their population concentrated in urban centres. This helps the organized retail players to make a deeper reach out to the population, resulting in a high representation of organized players in retail. This characteristic of the high share […]

Can MENA Have A Superapp?

Globally, apps are taking superapp journey by adding services to its offering and increasing per-customer revenue Published on: Jul 2019 A country/region becomes superapp ready when its large base of the population is smartphone first instead of desktop and the ecosystem of apps customized to local needs is not evolved. WeChat in China leveraged this […]

MENA Marketing Taking Social Media Journey

Business in MENA are taking digital journey led by social media, for marketing its products and services to customers Published on: Jul 2019 MENA region comprising of GCC, Levant and North Africa is home to 40+mn businesses represented by corporates, government, SMEs and self-employed. These businesses in the MENA region are increasingly using digital platforms […]

Online Retail Insights | Middle-East

Buy Full Report With technology driving businesses across the region, Retail technology enabler market is a picking up trend in Middle-east, driven by marketing solutions, analytics, and other retail support Published on: Jun 2019 Technology is playing a key role in driving the retail business in Middle-East. With Amazon-Souq and Jumia already crossing USD 1 […]

Online Grocery Market Updates | Middle-East

Buy Full Report Share of organized grocery retail in UAE+KSA is expected to increase to 80% by 2022, from current 60%; Unorganized grocery retail to shrink Published on: Jan 2019 RedSeer estimates grocery retail to grow at CAGR of ~5% to reach size of USD 73 Bn by 2022, from current USD 60 Bn for […]

Fintech Insights | Middle-East

1. Fintech: Funding in MENA fintech is led by lending and payment focused start-ups Published on: Oct 2018 Fintech based start-ups in the MENA region are seeing a lot of traction recently with a funding of ~USD115mn till date, of which ~75mn is received within last two years. UAE is the most popular geography among […]

Cab Aggregation Insights | Middle-East

1. Cab: After a first wave of rapid growth, MENA’s cab hailing market is ready for the next wave of expansion into smaller cities and realize its huge potential Published on: Sep 2018 MENA region’s online cabs market has grown rapidly to reach similar scale as its better funded regional peers in India and SE Asia in […]