Saudi E-commerce | Promoting New Development in Trade

According to research by consumer intelligence firm Nielsen IQ, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) e-commerce sales in the entire Middle East region have grown significantly, with Saudi Arabia's FMCG e-commerce sales increasing by 55% year-on-year. In 2023, 67% of Saudi Internet users will buy goods from online retailers, a year-on-year increase of 6% compared with 2022. As the 29th largest e-commerce market in the world, Saudi Arabia has become a destination for more and more Chinese enterprises.

Saudi Arabia's e-commerce revenue for 2023 is $12.5 billion. It is expected that revenue will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.1% (2024-2028), reaching $21 billion by 2028. It is expected that the number of e-commerce users in Saudi Arabia will reach 33.6 million by 2024, and the per capita expenditure of Saudi e-commerce users will increase by more than 50%. The Saudi Arabian central bank revealed that in February 2024, the sales of Saudi e-commerce using Mada cards reached 14.11 billion Saudi riyals (3.76 billion US dollars), with an annual growth rate of 25%. As an economy that cannot be ignored in the Middle East market, Saudi Arabia's Internet penetration rate of more than 90% and its huge population base provide good development conditions for the e-commerce market. Amazon has started to expand its presence in the Saudi Arabian market. Recently, Amazon Web Services (AWS), a cloud business under Amazon, announced plans to launch a data center in Saudi Arabia with an investment of over $5.3 billion. In June of last year, Amazon opened a new distribution center in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. In addition to Amazon, other e-commerce platforms have also increased their investment in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia is a major consumer country, importing a large amount of consumer goods and commodities every year. According to data from the World Trade Organization (WTO), Saudi Arabia's total goods trade in 2020 was approximately $1.45 trillion, of which exports amounted to approximately $210 billion and imports amounted to approximately $1.23 trillion. According to the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, Saudi Arabia attracted over $139 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2019.

The Middle East has characteristics such as high GDP levels, a large young population, and economic diversification. However, excessive dependence on oil has led to weak manufacturing infrastructure, so they must import a large amount of consumer goods, resulting in high demand for Chinese products in the Middle East. Therefore, it is increasingly regarded as a huge "potential stock" by more and more overseas enterprises.