February 1, 2022 
The Middle East counties are on the verge of capturing the market with the help of an e-commerce platform. The e-commerce platform has been a direct-to-consumer where the manufacturer deals with consumers considering their choices and desires on a grander scale.
Looking at the old data, it will be pretty clear that only 2% of the retail revenue is generated through digital or online sales in the Middle East. It is estimated that about 90% of online stuff is sourced from outside when counting is done on Middle East countries. Such strategies are changing vividly and taking a different mode to centralize online shopping. These days, e-commerce is making massive revenue in the Middle East counties and going global gradually.
Market Boom in the Middle East and its reasons
The Middle East is booming because of the youth. The place is highly populated to target the young mind to work on some innovative idea and set start-up or another platform for the region’s growth in a broader way. It is pretty surprising that out of 108 million people, around 28% are of age group 15 and 29. The youth is heading towards e-commerce platforms with the help of websites or the applications available through cell phones. The Middle East has the most significant per capita revenue globally in the current scenario.
The Internet has reached remote places to fully get the customer’s attention and utilize the e-commerce platform. Despite being a desert area, the internet utility has enhanced significantly. Some of the Middle East countries like Egypt and Iran are ranking at the top-most level as internet users. The number of users is gradually increasing since 2017 to 48,211,493.
North is way backward in terms of accepting new chances for the growth of the business in a holistic way. Every state of the Middle East is not as active and connected to the Internet as Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Dubai. These countries are exploring new opportunities and trying to settle down with new platforms in terms of business. The Gulf countries are more advanced than the counties in the North. Even countries like Lebanon, which opt to be a developing state, have no e-commerce facilities.
In this tech-savvy world, the smartphone has captured the mind of the youth, and they spend 90% of their time scrolling stuff on e-commerce platforms or any social media like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. With the availability of websites, e-commerce has involved mobile applications for easy use by the customer. One can use an e-commerce platform like Souq.com in multi-language. Web commerce is still accessible in the market along with the e-commerce platform to catch the eye of more and more end-users.
The E-commerce platform and its difficulties
E-commerce platform undergoes lots of difficulties to stand high in the market. Some of the challenging scenarios are mentioned below to glance at it.
Shipping method
Many states in the Middle East are not connected to direct roadways. This becomes a reason for the unavailability of the postal codes to reach out to the customer quickly. Even many blocks and streets go unnamed, which complicates the delivery system of the e-commerce platform.
These are the real-time challenges to general e-commerce ideas in remote areas. The young mind is innovating to inspire more in such a way as to enhance the business differently.
With problems comes the solution too. The call is to connect the remote area and the development on the map for the easy delivery of the goods at your doorstep.
Payment Methods
The transaction pattern needs to be easy and secure for the customer to purchase more. Every state has its way of transaction, and the same need to be followed by the e-commerce platform for their growth and profit-making strategies. For example, in the UAE, credit cards are accessible in an easy way and are widely accepted by the e-commerce platform to process on the same sphere.
Warehouse maintenance
The foremost duty of the service provider is to maintain the warehouse facilities in a good way so that pickers and packers do not face such issues. The stocks of the brands are stored in the warehouse safely. The system to manage the warehouse must be revised and updated to keep an eye on stocks and availability.
Leakage of data
Data security is the foremost duty of the e-commerce platform to consider. The data shared by the customer should be secured at times of transaction or choosing stuff. You should not reveal personal data to another source at any cost. This process will help in data collection of the customer regarding their needs and choices.
The flow of cash in the market
The population is not that active in online transaction interface and has less idea regarding it. Customers in such countries deal primarily in cash as they fear online fraud and can’t step out of their comfort zone. In currency flows more than the digital transaction. As per the report, the Middle East deals more in cash-on-delivery of transaction patterns over being digital. The call of the time is to motivate the youth more towards using online or digital interfaces as their payment mode and go cash-less.
Brand Promotion
The social media platform or salesperson hiring is done for the brand advertisement. Proper training and recruitment are done to hire the salesman who is a time-consuming and slow process. To avoid such advertising, the e-commerce platform needs to hire a digital marketer who is well trained at times of their internship and requires little time to grab the process and follow it quickly. The digital marketer chooses the festive season more to advertise the brand products and get caught by the more audience at the shopping. Half of the information regarding the brand is circulated with the help of social media scrolling like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.
This article talks a lot about e-commerce and its difficulties in establishing in the Middle East. I hope you are briefed in detail about the queries and their solution in setting an e-commerce platform in countries like the Middle East in a full-fledged manner to get the attention of more and more customers or clients to make a deal with it more productively and efficiently.
