Arab world may see $69 billion in online payment

01/06/2016 06:21 AST

PAYFORT, the leading online payment service provider in the Arab world, has announced its third “State of Payments in the Arab World” report, offering up-to-date data and insights in the region’s payment trends and consumer buying habits.

Based on the seven key country markets studied, the region saw a 23 percent increase in online payments during 2015, led by strong growth in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, showing 40 percent and 24 percent year-on-year growth respectively. Meanwhile, the report forecasts that the volume of online payments could increase nearly three times by the year 2020 to reach more than $69 billion of transactions per annum.

PAYFORT’s State of Payments in the Arab World, which has become the standard reference for payments and ecommerce trends in the region, has been expanded and enhanced again this year to include more consumer buying data and insights into consumer behavior in the region. Focusing on the seven key markets which PAYFORT operates in (Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE), the report tracks online payment transactions in the airline, travel, ecommerce (online shopping) and entertainment sectors.

“Our research team has been very focused on how to make this annual report as useful as possible for businesses in the region,” Omar Soudodi, Managing Director of PAYFORT. “So, in addition to exploring current trends and future predictions, this year’s report aims to shed some light on some of the real issues that impact merchants on a day-to-day basis and present actionable insights and possible solutions for the future.”

The new report shows strong growth in online shopping across different sectors, with transactions in the airline sector increasing by 18 percent from 2014 to 2015, in the travel sector by 39 percent, in the ecommerce sector by 31 percent and in the entertainment sector by 34 percent. The region’s largest markets Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE led most sectors in terms of volume and year-on-year growth in 2015.

The Gulf Today