Saudi retailers could miss e-commerce bandwagon

Retail sector leaders in Saudi Arabia continue to lag behind the blazing growth in e-commerce and could find themselves floundering when multi-brand online stores increase investments and presence in the kingdom.

According to Payfort’s State of Payments report for 2016, the Saudi e-commerce market is expected to jump more than 250 percent to $8.35 billion in 2020 from $2.25 billion in 2015. This is the highest growth forecast among GCC countries.

“Given the demographics of Saudi Arabia, with a large percentage of the population being young and technologically savvy and high penetration of smartphones, there is a large opportunity for local retailers to benefit from this channel,” David Fuller, managing director of e-commerce consultancy, Redbox Digital, told Argaam.

However, stock analysts believe that bigger Saudi retailers aren’t doing enough to leverage the e-commerce opportunity.

“Growth in e-commerce in the kingdom is expected to bypass Fawaz Al Hokair given the high growth in fashion e-commerce and the apparent hesitance of the company on entering the space. SACO and Jarir have initiated online efforts, albeit with minimal investments,” said Sultan Al Kadi of Aljazira Capital in a recent note.

According to data compiled by Hamburg-based yStats.com, a secondary market research company, Amazon.com, Haraj.com.sa, and Souq.com were the three leading e-commerce websites in Saudi Arabia in April 2016. Tellingly, only two retailers— Jarir and Savola-owned Panda— made it into the top ten with 2.5 million and 1.2 million website visits respectively in March.

Saudi customers are already buying online, said Fuller.

“They can use services like ‘shop and ship’ to buy from large online stores in the USA and UK and get goods delivered. Local retailers are not just competing against Souq and MarkaVIP – they are competing against Amazon and ASOS.”

Anas Mulla, group marketing strategy and planning director at Fawaz Al Hokair, believes that while e-commerce is definitely an important growth path, online shoppers and those who visit bricks-and-mortar stores are two different target groups.  

“Currently we are working on a new strategy for e-commerce, details will be disclosed soon,” he said.

United Electronics Co. (Extra) which claims to be first Saudi retailer to launch e-commerce in 2011, said they have continued to invest in the online experience. 

“We are seeing significant traffic and sales growth from consumers on Extra.com, with sales up 300 percent year on year—so there is a lot of potential and demand today,” Mohammad Sajjad, director of e-commerce at Extra, told Argaam.

Retailers with stores also have the advantage of being able to offer an omni-channel experience, where the customer orders on phone and picks up in the store.

Among the major challenges to online retail development in Saudi Arabia is the dominance of cash on delivery, the payment method used by more than 50 percent of online shoppers last year, according to yStats.com.

Another is a certain degree of mistrust of digital retailers. Finally, there is the cultural challenge. Going to malls is not just a shopping expedition but also a major source of entertainment. Consumers are unlikely to give up visits to the malls that combine entertainment with shopping.

Write to Brinda Darasha at brinda.d@argaamplus.com