The United Arab Emirates’ population was estimated at 9.83 million in May 2020. The average highest online spending is by those aged 25 years to 34 years - at 27.4 percent. Ecommerce users are growing at 5.6 percent year on year and expect to have 6.7 million users in 2020. Online shoppers spent US$1,407.7 on average in early 2020.
Internet penetration was 99 percent in January - up 1.3 percent from 2019. Mobile penetration is high at 92.17 percent of the total population in early 2020. Ecommerce is growing at 14.9 percent year on year and expects to reach US$9.44 billion in revenue by the end of 2020. Cross-border ecommerce shoppers mostly purchase online from the US, the UK and India.
Before the pandemic cash dominated as the most popular transaction method followed by credit and debit cards. Mobile payments were growing at 30 percent year on year. With the growth of ecommerce and the demand for contactless payments during the pandemic digital wallet use rose 78 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2020.
