The Middle East has become a true force in e-commerce, with rapid progression and adoption of digital tools. This has been driven by heavy investment in omnichannel strategies, mobile apps, and personalised marketing, bolstered by the ever-growing presence of social commerce, which has been swiftly adopted by the younger generation.

(Learn more about social and m-commerce here, and Gen Z purchasing patterns here)

 

As of 2025, online shopping only made up 10% of retail compared to 20% in the US or China, placing itself in a position to continue to grow. 

 

What Markets Are Finding Success?

 

As of 2025, the Middle East retail market reached around £1.7 trillion, with growth expected to hit £2.7 trillion by 2031 (Mobility Foresights).

 

The sectors doing the best are:

 

• Food and Beverage
   

• Personal and Household Care
   

• Apparel, Footwear, and Accessories
   

• Furniture, Toys, and Hobbies
   

• Electronic and Household Appliances

 

They are finding this success through smart personalisation, as over 71% of UAE retailers are investing in AI systems to analyse and generate recommendations based on customer behaviour. Seeing increased conversion rates by connecting the consumer to products based on their previous purchases and search behaviour. AI usage continues, with 53% of MENA consumers using AI visual search tools to help find products and conversational AI customer service bots.

(Find out more about AI customer service bots here)

 

The Middle East’s e-commerce market has grown through three main platforms. Souq.com, started in Dubai in 2005 and grew to be the largest Middle Eastern platform before being bought by Amazon in 2017. At its peak, it had around 45 million monthly visitors and millions of products sold across many sectors. They grew to this size by introducing a new payment system, cash on delivery, that helped with trust issues with online payments at the time. The number of products available, +500K, also aided customer conversion online. The growth and subsequent acquisition of Souq.com for £475 million validated the Middle East as a worthy market worth investing in.

 

Off the back of the success of Souq.com, Noon and Salla both came into the market in 2016. Noon started with £730 million in support from the Saudi Public Investment Fund, and grew to offer over 20 million products, fast delivery, and a grocery service. They capitalised on the use of cash on delivery that had been popularised by Souq.com, as there was still no common payment method when they started. They now position themselves as an Arabic-first company and introduced aggressive pricing strategies whilst continuing to expand their product line-up to compete with Amazon. They also have much better support for the Arabic language and have regional promotions like their Yellow Friday sale. 

 

Salla is known as the Shopify of the Middle East and aims to empower local e-commerce brands. It is a SaaS platform that helps to launch and grow brands with ease. They support over 68,000 active merchants across the Middle East and have processed over £9.65 billion in gross merchandise value, demonstrating the scale of Middle Eastern e-commerce. Once again, Salla focuses on the local market, prioritising Arabic language support and use of regional payment services. With an aim to lower the barrier to entry by offering hundreds of apps and local logistics partners to help businesses launch a full store in hours, and access marketing and SEO to maintain their store. Positioning themselves as a growth engine for Middle Eastern companies. 

 

Overall, these three companies have created the base for e-commerce in the Middle East, not by relying on outside services. Building a new market that continues to grow and advance its operations.

If you are a Middle East or MENA-based business and want to continue your growth into new markets, then click here to find out more about exhibiting and what you can achieve at White Label World Expo.