Digital banking — a key enabler for #Qatar’s e-commerce market

Digital banking — a key enabler for Qatar’s e-commerce market:

According to Fitch Solutions, “Qatar offers an e-commerce market worth almost $1.5bn in 2019. The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region is projected to record e-commerce sales growth of 21.4% to reach $28.5bn in 2019. A common feature across the Gulf is a youthful demographic profile and high income levels. A high proportion of young adults (20-39 years old), making up more than a third of the total population. This age bracket is traditionally more tech-savvy than other generations and is a highly influential consumer base that tends to be the key target audience for retailers, as well as e-commerce majors. Qatar leads the way on that front, with the largest share of young adults in the region at 54% in 2019.” 

We are seeing a clear shift in customers’ preferred mode of transaction. 

According to GSMA Intelligence, “Qatar is first among Arab countries in terms of engagement with mobile services and applications. Qatar reached the highest score 6 on the GSMA Global Mobile Engagement Index (GMEI). This is due to the high usage, particularly for messenger and VoIP applications where Qatar ranked highest in the world. This indicator does not only look towards Qatar’s leadership in technological infrastructure development, but also it includes users’ development and their high ability to use and deal with modern technology. More than 50% of phone owners in Qatar use at least once per month mobile Internet communication (voice and video calls), social networking and entertainment as playing games, watching online video or listening to online music. ”