Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — It is undeniable that the E-commerce and retail are greatly growing in the region especially in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and UAE. To shed some light on this, Saudi Gazette met with Dirk Henke, Managing Director, Emerging Markets, Criteo on the sidelines of his participation in Arab Net in which he delivered a keynote presentation.

“There is one main aspect we are covering around the dramatic changes that are happening in the E-commerce and retail worlds. We are currently working with more than 17,000 of the leading E- commerce players around the globe. We see how every one of them is developing, we have the exact number and data and we see the challenges and the opportunities. We have identified three main trends that are particularly changing the ecosystem of the E- commerce and retail right now,” he said.

Henke added that three main trends are happening over the past few years. “Firstly, the consumers are being more empowered and are having higher expectations due to the massive use of mobile phones and devices which gave more power than before. They want everything very soon with perfect smooth payment method. They started to care about even logistics and this has created a lot of challenges to E-commerce players and retailers because they need to meet those expectations. Secondly, linked to the consumer, is about omni channel (offline &online worlds) the traditional offline retailers that are obviously dominating in the region in terms of share sales, those offline players are struggling while online and digital players are growing and taking over. There is a very interesting trend; consumers are still going to malls especially in the GCC region because it is part of leisure. What is happening is that people still go, but they buy less. Consumers are shifting. The problem is for the retailers because they are still looking at two different worlds online and offline, but it is one consumer that is using both worlds. What needs to happen is that both worlds for the consumer it is already one world but for retail players they need to merge it as well to understand the consumer and react with best marketing message,” he explained.

The third trend is about the information about the consumer and data. “You have lot more data coming up than before, but there is a big challenge in understanding the data, being able to process it. It is not about having data, it is about being able to activate it. There is one player in the world that is by far dominating and doing a really great job which is Amazon,” he said.

What is interesting about Saudi Arabia and the GCC region is omni channel. “The merge of offline and online where there is very strong offline shopping and where the digital is greatly growing at the same time. Saudi Arabia will be the biggest E-Commerce country in leading in this field,” he commented.

There is massive potential and opportunities for this industry and it is growing. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been among the leading countries globally when it comes to smart phones. “This is obviously supporting the whole trend in E-commerce. Few years ago, most of the E-commerce business were done through desktop devices. No one would use phones. However, now in the countries there are smart phones and the 60% growth of the online purchases this year were done through smart phones. This will have a great impact on consumer behavior and how this whole industry needs to adapt because the phone is with the consumer all the time. So they can buy anytime and anywhere. The majority of the E- commerce transactions in the GCC region are happening from App, then tablets, and then the mobile browser. All E- commerce players must adapt to this,” he noted.

He stressed that he is extremely optimistic. “It will grow massively in the few upcoming months. If the retail companies and E-commerce players do it right which means merging the offline and online businesses, connect the data for the consumers to understand, that will further boost growth. However, the biggest challenge is to tackle the current obstacles of logistics and payment — logistics to get the products delivered are still taking longer than it should be, the products availability needs development. There are strong local E-commerce players and they will be pushed further to the increased demands and the presence of international players,” he concluded.