B2C e-commerce volume exceeded US$ 4.87 billion in Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and UAE in 2007.

February 04, 2008

The Arab Advisors Group analysis of e-commerce expenditure in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Lebanon is based on major online and face to face surveys conducted by Arab Advisors Group during 2007. Total number of e-commerce users in these four countries exceeded 5.1 million people in 2007.

During the second half of 2007, the Arab Advisors Group conducted several major analytical surveys which separately covered Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Lebanon. The surveys of Kuwait and Lebanon 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% confidence level with a less than 6% margin of error.

As for the surveys of Saudi Arabia and UAE, these 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% with a margin of error of less than 3%.

“The UAE’s e-commerce users penetration was the highest among the countries studied. The UAE’s e-commerce users’ penetration stood at 25.1%. Saudi Arabia (14.3%) and Kuwait (10.7%) followed while Lebanon had the lowest penetration of e-commerce users with 1.6% of the total population.” Mr. Andrawes Snobar, Arab Advisors Sr. Research Analyst and team leader, commented.

The UAE also had the highest average amount spent per capita over one year. As for Lebanon, it 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.

The surveys reports names and their prices are listed below:

• Kuwait Cellular Users Survey - September 2007
The survey report has 259 detailed exhibits and 158 pages. This survey report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 3,750 for subscribers to Arab Advisors Strategic Research Services. Non-Subscribers to Arab Advisors Groups Strategic Research Services can order the report for US$ 5,000.

• UAE Internet Users and e-commerce survey - September 2007
The survey report has over 75 detailed exhibits and 64 pages. This survey report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 2,400 for subscribers to Arab Advisors Strategic Research Services. Non-Subscribers to Arab Advisors Groups Strategic Research Services can order the report for US$ 3,000.

• Lebanon Cellular Users Survey – December 2007
The survey report has 255 detailed exhibits and 150 pages. This survey report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 2,750 for subscribers to Arab Advisors Strategic Research Services. Non-Subscribers to Arab Advisors Groups Strategic Research Services can order the report for US$ 3,750.

• Saudi Arabia Internet Users and e-commerce survey – December 2007
The survey report has 92 detailed exhibits and 72 pages. This survey report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 3,000 for subscribers to Arab Advisors Strategic Research Services. Non-Subscribers to Arab Advisors Groups Strategic Research Services can order the report for US$ 3,750.

More details on these survey reports and their TOCs can be viewed at http://www.arabadvisors.com/specialoffers.htm . Purchasing all four reports entails a 15% discount. Companies can choose to only order the e-commerce sections of the four surveys for only 1500 US$.

The Arab Advisors Group’s team of analysts in the region has produced over 1,030 reports on the Arab World’s communications and media markets. The reports can be purchased individually or received through an annual subscription to Arab Advisors Group’s (www.arabadvisors.com) Strategic Research Services (Media and Telecom). To date, Arab Advisors Group has served over 460 global and regional companies by providing reliable research analysis and forecasts of Arab communications markets to these clients. Some of our clients can be viewed on http://www.arabadvisors.com/clients.htm