With the recent acquisition of SOUQ.com by Amazon and the anticipated launch of the new local e-commerce site Noon.com, the shift to online shopping in the GCC has become more apparent than ever.
A recent study from YouGov has found that 83% of local GCC millennials have shopped online in the past six Months, with 42% shopping on local websites and 41% on international sites.
The research found that the most likely items to be purchased online by GCC millennials are mobile phones (20%) and computer software/hardware (20%), followed by electronic equipment (19%), games (17%) and e-books (13%).
The least likely items to be purchased online are flowers (3%), pet related products (3%), music (4%), sporting goods (6%), hardcopy books (6%) and health products (7%).
YouGov found that the most common barriers to online shopping were related to not being comfortable with making online payments (41%), high shipping charges (37%) and long delivery times (34%).
Among female GCC millennials barriers also included a lack of cash-on-delivery option (33%), uncertainty of authenticity of products found online (30%) and a lack of information about the return process (20%).
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