The digital shopper landscape in the United Arab Emirates continued to experience strong momentum in 2024, supported by a widespread consumer shift towards convenience, personalisation, and technologically enhanced experiences. Growth in e-commerce for both goods and services remained robust, underpinned by rising demand for seamless digital journeys across sectors such as retail, mobility, and foodservice.
With over 90% of the population using mobile devices, mobile commerce remains the most dynamic and accessible channel for digital shopping in the United Arab Emirates. High smartphone penetration, strong mobile network infrastructure, and an established culture of mobile app usage underpin this growth.
New digital commerce formats such as social commerce, livestream shopping, and voice-enabled platforms continued to evolve in 2024, although they remain nascent in terms of market penetration. Younger consumers, particularly Gen Z, are increasingly turning to platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok not only for entertainment but also as gateways to e-commerce.
Digital shopping in the United Arab Emirates is expected to accelerate its transformation over the forecast period, as continued investment in digital infrastructure and strategic partnerships reshape the retail and service landscape. The country’s position as a regional innovation hub, combined with a stable economic environment, makes it an attractive destination for both international players and local start-ups.
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Understand the latest market trends and future growth opportunities for the Digital Shopper industry in United Arab Emirates with research from Euromonitor International's team of in-country analysts – experts by industry and geographic specialisation.
Learn how technology is impacting digital commerce across a variety of industries, including retail, foodservice, travel, entertainment, mobility and streaming services. Insightful, thought-provoking and forward-looking analysis from top analysts in the space helps you understand the scale and direction of transformation. Data from Euromonitor International's annual Voice of the Consumer: Digital Survey provides you with insights into the consumer perception of tech-driven commerce initiatives.
Analysis in this report provides further detailed coverage dedicated to the following key categories across the 20 most important digital shopper markets:
E-COMMERCE (GOOD AND SERVICES) BY MERCHANT TYPE
E-COMMERCE (GOOD AND SERVICES) BY DEVICE AND PLATFORM
E-COMMERCE (GOOD AND SERVICES) BY FULFILLMENT MODEL
EMERGING BUSINESS MODELS
If you're in the Digital Shopper industry in United Arab Emirates, our research will help you to make informed, intelligent decisions; to recognise and profit from opportunity, or to offer resilience amidst market uncertainty.
Digital Shopper
Tracks all sales of goods and services to the public via the internet. Consumer purchases through web platforms are attributed to the country in which the consumer is based, rather than where the merchant is based. Our definition is agnostic as to where the actual payment takes place. If an order is initiated online, we would consider that order to be an e-commerce transaction, even if the order is ultimately paid for in-store, with cash on delivery, by mail via postal cheque, or in person when turning in a ticket and associated payment at a designated ATM or branch facility. Our figures exclude consumer-to-consumer (C2C) and business-to-business (B2B) sales. Business-to-consumer sales (B2C) – in which the business is registered with the government and pays the appropriate taxes – are included. This includes B2C sales on marketplace platforms, which allow many merchants to sell on their website and process the transaction. While both businesses and consumers can sell through marketplaces, only B2C transactions are included in our coverage. Note that online sales from direct selling companies are excluded from our definition. As we are primarily concerned with tracking the importance of the direct selling model (and not where the final sale is made), all sales attributable to a direct selling company will fall into direct selling rather than E-Commerce. Credit or charge card bill payments, mortgages and other loan payments, money transfers, digital person-to-person payments, insurance payments and donations to charities and crowdfunding campaigns are excluded from Euromonitor’s coverage. For C2G transactions, consumer payments made to governments for direct consumption of services and utilities, excluding taxes, fines, and administrative fees, are included. This includes all online purchases made by a consumer to a business for either goods or services regardless of the device (PC, mobile phone, tablet, etc.) used to execute the transaction. It is subdivided into the following eight areas of E-Commerce: Retail, Foodservice, Travel, Mobility, Ticketed Entertainment, Streaming Services, Bill Payments and Other.
See all of our definitionsThis report originates from Passport, our Digital Shopper research and analysis database.
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