The State of Payments 2015 by PayFort - ArabNet Digital Summit 2015

stateofpayments.com

STATEPAYMENTS

2015OF

$7billionArab World

$1.5billion

$1.4billion

$0.56billion

$0.28billion

$0.21billion

UAE KSA Egypt Kuwait Lebanon Jordan

$2.3billion

MARKET SIZE - 2014"Ecommerce is the fastest growing sector covered in this report and by 2020 it will be nipping on the heels of airlines to become the biggest. By then we pre-dict UAE and KSA will have a combined ecommerce market of over $10 billion."

02stateofpayments.com |

$13.4billionArab World

$2.9billlion

$2.7billion

$1.07billion

$0.53billion

$0.4billion

$4.4billion

MARKET SIZE - 2020"Ecommerce is the fastest growing sector covered in this report and by 2020 it will be nipping on the heels of airlines to become the biggest. By then we pre-dict UAE and KSA will have a combined ecommerce market of over $10 billion."

UAE KSA Egypt Kuwait Lebanon Jordan



$30m

$15m

$0

$-15m

$-30m

-$13.9m

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

-$13.3m-$9.8m -$8.4m

-$4.7m -$3.3m-$0.24m

-$4.6m

$1.8m $1.2m

$27.7m $27.7m

SEASONALITY"Ecommerce is feast or famine with lulls from January through to August when fortunes turn in the run up to November and December. Sales soar before Christmas and the New Year."

Transaction Size(See the methodology behind this analysis on pg 115)


100k

50k

$0

-50k

-100k

-74,759

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

-68,719

-34,955 -34,923

-9,983 -699 -231

-17,607

12,249 12,033

108,797 108,797

Transaction Volume(See the methodology behind this analysis on pg 115)

SEASONALITY"Ecommerce is feast or famine with lulls from January through to August when fortunes turn in the run up to November and December. Sales soar before Christmas and the New Year."


74%Acceptance

Ratio

0.05%Chargeback

5%Refund

TRANSACTION RATIOS"Acceptance ratios are low for ecommerce companies. This owes to the many startups in this space that are still developing e�ective checkout pages on their websites."


Acceptance Ratio

25%

Chargeback Ratio

26%

Transaction Volume

34%

Transaction Size

15%

INDUSTRY SURVEY"We polled 60+ companies in ecommerce to get their view on how customers are behaving online."

WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU WHEN IT COMES TO ONLINE PAYMENTS?Ecommerce companies are focused on increasing the number of transactions with the aim of capturing market share. In the future they will have to focus on increasing their average order value."

Acceptance Ratio Cash-on-DeliveryAlternatives

Increase Paymentoptions forCustomers

Increase Truston Checkout

with End Users

Fraud

13% 13%

32%16%

26%


WHAT IS A MAJOR ONLINE PAYMENT CHALLENGE?"Cash on delivery can be crippling for small ecommerce companies due to the costs and high return rates. Many firms are struggling to get to grips with this local challenge."

Facebook Twitter Linkedin Google + Pinterest

41%

4% 4% 9%

23%

Instagram Others

5%13%


WHICH SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNEL WILL BE YOUR BIGGEST FOCUS FOR ONLINE SALES AND CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT?"Facebook is far and away the most important channel for ecommerce companies while Instagram has outstripped Twitter as the runner up. In 2016, Instagram may well take pole position."

Alternative Payments

Very important

61%

Important

24%

Somewhat important

10%

Not important at all

5%


HOW IMPORTANT ARE ALTERNATIVE PAYMENTS AND EASY INSTALLMENT PLANS TO YOUR BUSINESS?"Alternative payments are incredibly important in ecommerce as consumers refuse to pay online for physical goods. Ecommerce companies are also starting to tinker with easy installment plans."

Very important

18%

Important

13%

Somewhat important

34%

Not important at all

35%

Easy Installment


HOW IMPORTANT ARE ALTERNATIVE PAYMENTS AND EASY INSTALLMENT PLANS TO YOUR BUSINESS?"Alternative payments are incredibly important in ecommerce as consumers refuse to pay online for physical goods. Ecommerce companies are also starting to tinker with easy installment plans."


SEO Paid Search ContentMarketing

A�liates Online PR EmailMarketing

UserReviews

Social Media Re�erals O�ineChannels

16% 16%

9%7% 7% 7% 5%

13% 12%

8%

WHICH MARKETING CHANNELS PROVIDE THE BIGGEST BOOSTTO E-COMMERCE SALES?"Ecommerce companies are not heavily reliant upon paid media and instead focus on SEO, social and email marketing to increase market share."


Electronics Fashion Books Entertainment Health Sports Groceries

23%24%

17%

8% 8%9%

12%

WHICH PRODUCT CATEGORIES DO YOU SELL?"Entertainment and electronics are the largest ecommerce sectors. Groceries is a small sub-sector, however, it could explode if major players make it a focus."


WHAT PERCENTAGE OF YOUR CUSTOMERS PAY WITH CREDIT CARDS/MOBILES AND DO YOU ATTRACT RETURN CUSTOMERS?"Ecommerce companies still haven’t cracked credit card payments and m-commerce – the winners in the run-up to 2020 will be brands that successfully confront these challenges while building brand loyalty."

Mobile Sales Credit Cards Repeat Buyers

100 - 90%

0%0%0%

27%

5%8%

34%32%

11%

18%15%

27%

39%

49%

11%

24%

0% 0%

89 - 75% 74 - 50% 49 - 25% 24 - 0% No Mobiles Sales


WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE?"Ecommerce is intensely competitive and each niche is filled by multiple providers. This means that acquiring market share is the most important consideration for the vast majority of firms."

47%

7% 9%

28%

9%

0%

AcquiringMarket Share

Shopping CartAbandonment

InventoryManagement

Delivery Returns Pricing


WHAT IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FACTOR FOR CLOTHING RETURNS?"Incorrect sizing is the most common reason for clothing returns. This may indicate that customers are unable to correctly size themselves when shopping online."

Wrong Item Wrong Size Item not asdescribed

Buyer changedher mind

Couldn’t reachthe buyer

16% 42% 5% 16% 21%


DO YOU SEE SUBSCRIPTION E-COMMERCE FASHION AS A VIABLE BUSINESSMODEL? AND ARE RETAIL BRANDS A THREAT TO ECOMMERCE COMPANIES?"Subscription ecommerce is clearly an intriguing prospect that could help boost brand loyalty in this competitive market. Interestingly, ecommerce companies are not threatened by retail brands that may move into the online world."

Subscription Ecommerce

63%Yes

37%No

Retail Brands

26%Yes

74%No


WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING POSES THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR YOU AS AN ECOMMERCE?"Maintaining the same level of service between o�ine and online stores has proven to be the most challenging aspect for many Ecommerces. Companies that can innovate in this area stand to gain a big advantage over competitors."

Building ane-commerce site

25%

Maintaining the samelevel of service between

my o�ine and online store

50% 25%

Competing with existinge-commerce players

online shopping overtakingretail shopping by 2020

50% 50%

Yes No

engage in omni-commercefor your business

Yes No

online storea bigger focus in 2015

100%

0%

Yes No

DO YOU CURRENTLY ENGAGE IN OMNI-COMMERCE FOR YOUR BUSINESS AND DO YOU PLAN ON MAKING YOUR ONLINE STORE A BIGGER FOCUS IN 2015? WILL ONLINE SHOPPING OVERTAKE RETAIL SHOPPING BY 2020? "Ecommerce businesses are split equally on the takeover of online shopping with 50% expecting it to take over retail shopping by 2020. Still there is overwhelming agreement that in 2015 online needs to be a bigger focus."


100%

0%


Product is not ready to ship tocustomer by estimated delivery time

20%

Courier company takestoo much time to deliver

49%

Customer is not a serious buyer

31%

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WOULD YOU SAY IS A MAJOR FACTOR FOR RETURNS FROM CASH-ON-DELIVERY? "Logistics is clearly the largest issue a�ecting Cash-on-Delivery returns. The time between purchase and payment leads customers to change their mind and abandon the sale."

SOUQ.COMRONALDO MOUCHAWAR,CEO

"The Arab World has one of the highest mobile penetration rates in the world which has led to mobile e-commerce sales taking o� in the last few years. Mobile is the biggest platform for most e-commerce merchant sales in the region. In many online shopping categories, such as fashion, mobile sales are already higher than web-based transactions, and by the end of 2015 we expect mobile to completely overtake web."

JADOPADOOMAR KASSIM, CEO

"Logistics and getting from point to point is a solved problem, but the bottle neck is customs clearance. We like to think the GCC is one large market, but in reality it’s six countries each with their own customs rules and regulations. Many a time, we’ve attempted a GCC Customs union, which hasn’t gone anywhere yet. Attempting to return a product from KSA to a seller in the UAE is essentially treated as an export rather than a returns, pushing fulfilment costs to be significantly higher than they should be. The solution to this would be to build industry bodies that lobby governments to improve the customs environment and push for a customs union to take place over the next two to three years."

INDUSTRY EXPERT INTERVIEWS


KHUDARJINASR SHAMMOUT,CEO

"For e-commerce sites especially those who deal with perishable items, such as ourselves, you cannot count on any third party logistics for delivery fulfillment due to the nature of the products that requires special attention, quick delivery, and most importantly cheap in order to make business sense. Some customers expect immediate delivery like Pizza delivery, but fulfillment realistically takes between 2-8 hours after submitting the order which is not something that they are used to. A few years ago services like this wouldn't have even existed anywhere in the world, but now more grocery eCommerce sites are popping up everyday. For our region, there still needs to be an adjustment phase for this behavior, whereas expats are more used to such a service."

DEALGAMEDELHAKIM, MARKETING MANAGER

"In a fierce competition such as e-commerce in the Arab world, an e-commerce business has always to thrive for excellence, businesses have to create the best customer online shopping experience. In a way that users can navigate through a user friendly type of website, they can easily search for a deal or a product. In the e-commerce field you have to create for your users a pleasant experience, one that can have plenty of products to shop between a vast array of di�erent unique categories and brands. In today's e-commerce, you need a sharp edged customer service team that can serve users around the clock, from questions, inquiries as well as helping them through placing the order process over the phone, or via the website Customer Service chat. To be able to help the customer through the journey, as a whole."

INDUSTRY EXPERT INTERVIEWS



POPULATION "The Arab World is dominated by the major population centers of Saudi Arabia and Egypt. These two markets present the greatest opportunities for ecom-merce, however, both present regional challenges that inhibit growth."

UAE KSA EGYPT KUWAIT LEBANON JORDAN

9.3m

28.8m

82.1m

3.4m

4.5m

6.5m

INTERNET USERS "Egypt is the largest internet market followed by Saudi Arabia. UAE has a large, mature internet population and a relatively high rate of internet penetration. These three markets will drive change in the Arab World’s ecommerce industry."



8.2m17.4m

40.7m

2.6m3.2m 2.9m

SOCIAL NETWORKS - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES "The popularity of social networks varies across the region. Facebook is powerful in Egypt and UAE, while Instagram and Twitter do well in Saudi Arabia. Leba-non surprisingly is heavily reliant upon LinkedIn."


83%

35%38%

46%

32%

13%

4%7%

2%6% 5%

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

xFacebook Twitter Google+ Linkedin Instagram Pinterest Tumblr Snapchat Vine Others I dont use

Social Media


100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%


Social Media

SOCIAL NETWORKS - KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA"The popularity of social networks varies across the region. Facebook is powerful in Egypt and UAE, while Instagram and Twitter do well in Saudi Arabia. Leba-non surprisingly is heavily reliant upon LinkedIn."

67%

59%

31%

19%

52%

3%

6%

22%

3%

9%4%


100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%


Social Media

SOCIAL NETWORKS - EGYPT"The popularity of social networks varies across the region. Facebook is powerful in Egypt and UAE, while Instagram and Twitter do well in Saudi Arabia. Leba-non surprisingly is heavily reliant upon LinkedIn."

95%

52%

37%

29% 27%

4% 3% 3% 1%

9%

1%


100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%


Social Media

SOCIAL NETWORKS - KUWAIT"The popularity of social networks varies across the region. Facebook is powerful in Egypt and UAE, while Instagram and Twitter do well in Saudi Arabia. Leba-non surprisingly is heavily reliant upon LinkedIn."

82%

39%

31%34%

43%

3% 4%9%

1%

5%3%


100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%


Social Media

SOCIAL NETWORKS - LEBANON"The popularity of social networks varies across the region. Facebook is powerful in Egypt and UAE, while Instagram and Twitter do well in Saudi Arabia. Leba-non surprisingly is heavily reliant upon LinkedIn."

92%

48%

38%

54%

48%

13%

4% 5%

0%

10%

3%


100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%


Social Media

SOCIAL NETWORKS - JORDAN"The popularity of social networks varies across the region. Facebook is powerful in Egypt and UAE, while Instagram and Twitter do well in Saudi Arabia. Leba-non surprisingly is heavily reliant upon LinkedIn."

89%

43%

36%38%

31%

4%3%

4%

1%

11%

3%

ONLINE BUYERS"Egypt has the most online buyers of any country in the Arab World. However, by proportion of the population, the UAE and Kuwait have more online buyers and are easier for ecommerce companies to penetrate."


UAE KSA EGYPT

KUWAIT LEBANON JORDAN

6.8m 10.6m 15.2m

1.6m2.4m 2.6m


ONLINE BUYING BY GENDER"Women continue to buy very little online. The lone exception to this rule is UAE where inclusion in the online economy is approaching parity. In the run-up to 2020, it should be a focus of Arab governments to extend the benefits of the digital world to the entire population."

59%41%

61% 77%

73% 69% 72%

UAE KSA EGYPT

KUWAIT LEBANON JORDANMaleFemale

39% 23%

27% 31% 28%

18 - 25 26 - 35 36 - 40 41 - 50 50+

AGE GROUPS BUYING ONLINE"26-35 year olds are the largest ecommerce market in the Arab World and brands must appeal to them in order to succeed. Firms in Saudi Arabia must also target the 18-25 bracket as this accounts for a quarter of the market share."


50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%


10%

43%

20%19%

8%

25%

46%

14%10%

5%

15%

50%

13% 13%9% 8%

42%

15%

20%

15% 16%

34%

17%21%

12%

18%

42%

16% 15%

9%


ONLINE BUYING CATEGORIES - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES"Consumers in di�erent Arab countries have very divergent purchasing behavior online. Airline tickets, hotel reservations and electronics tend to be the most readily adopted categories, however, the degree to which people buy those products online varies considerably."

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

x

Air Ticke

ts

Event &

Concert

Ticke

ts

Hotel Rese

rvatio

ns

Electronics

Books

Fashion

Home Products

Sports Pro

ducts

Toys

& Video Gam

es

Collectiv

es

Auto Part

s

Grocerie

s

Health & Beau

ty

Others

I dont s

hop online

64%

40%

24%

37%

17%

29%

5%

8%11%

4% 5%6%

16%

5%

12%


ONLINE BUYING CATEGORIES - KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA"Consumers in di�erent Arab countries have very divergent purchasing behavior online. Airline tickets, hotel reservations and electronics tend to be the most readily adopted categories, however, the degree to which people buy those products online varies considerably."

39%

28%

6%

38%

10%

30%

5%

13%

5%

10%

2%6% 6%

18%

4%

20%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

x

Air Ticke

ts

Event &

Concert

Ticke

ts

Hotel Rese

rvatio

ns

Electronics

Books

Fashion

Home Products

Sports Pro

ducts

Toys

& Video Gam

es

Collectiv

es

Auto Part

s

Grocerie

s

Health & Beau

ty

Others

I dont s

hop online


ONLINE BUYING CATEGORIES - EGYPT"Consumers in di�erent Arab countries have very divergent purchasing behavior online. Airline tickets, hotel reservations and electronics tend to be the most readily adopted categories, however, the degree to which people buy those products online varies considerably."

22%

20%

7%

39%

12%

23%

4%

10%7%

3% 3% 4%

14%

7%

29%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

x

Air Ticke

ts

Event &

Concert

Ticke

ts

Hotel Rese

rvatio

ns

Electronics

Books

Fashion

Home Products

Sports Pro

ducts

Toys

& Video Gam

es

Collectiv

es

Auto Part

s

Grocerie

s

Health & Beau

ty

Others

I dont s

hop online


ONLINE BUYING CATEGORIES - KUWAIT"Consumers in di�erent Arab countries have very divergent purchasing behavior online. Airline tickets, hotel reservations and electronics tend to be the most readily adopted categories, however, the degree to which people buy those products online varies considerably."

62%

24%

11%

38%

11%

27%

5%

8% 10%

1%4%

9%11%

2%

14%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

x

Air Ticke

ts

Event &

Concert

Ticke

ts

Hotel Rese

rvatio

ns

Electronics

Books

Fashion

Home Products

Sports Pro

ducts

Toys

& Video Gam

es

Collectiv

es

Auto Part

s

Grocerie

s

Health & Beau

ty

Others

I dont s

hop online

ONLINE BUYING CATEGORIES - LEBANON"Consumers in di�erent Arab countries have very divergent purchasing behavior online. Airline tickets, hotel reservations and electronics tend to be the most readily adopted categories, however, the degree to which people buy those products online varies considerably."


41%

37%

22%24%

17%

34%

9%11%

15%

3% 4%1%

8%

4%

29%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

x

Air Ticke

ts

Event &

Concert

Ticke

ts

Hotel Rese

rvatio

ns

Electronics

Books

Fashion

Home Products

Sports Pro

ducts

Toys

& Video Gam

es

Collectiv

es

Auto Part

s

Grocerie

s

Health & Beau

ty

Others

I dont s

hop online

20%17%

6%

20%

12%

22%

4% 5%

9%

2% 3% 2%

7%5%

45%

ONLINE BUYING CATEGORIES - JORDAN"Consumers in di�erent Arab countries have very divergent purchasing behavior online. Airline tickets, hotel reservations and electronics tend to be the most readily adopted categories, however, the degree to which people buy those products online varies considerably."


70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

x

Air Ticke

ts

Event &

Concert

Ticke

ts

Hotel Rese

rvatio

ns

Electronics

Books

Fashion

Home Products

Sports Pro

ducts

Toys

& Video Gam

es

Collectiv

es

Auto Part

s

Grocerie

s

Health & Beau

ty

Others

I dont s

hop online


PAYMENT METHODS"Cash is still the preferred method of payment for ecommerce goods, especially in Egypt where 72% of consumers use cash. It seems cash on delivery is here to stay."


CREDIT/DEBIT CARD CASH CASHU PAYPAL OTHERS

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

39%

26%

22%

36%38%

26%

51%

59%

72%

41%

53%

60%

2%4%

2% 1% 1% 2%5%

6%

1% 2% 2%5% 3% 5% 3%

20%

6% 7%


INCOME LEVELS - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES"The spread of income distribution is consistent across Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia and to an extent Lebanon. Egypt and Jordan on the other hand have a larger proportion of consumers towards the lower end of the income spectrum."

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%<266 $266 - $799 $800 - $1599 $1600 - $2665 $2666 - $5332 $5333 - $7999 $8000 - $13332 $13333> Prefer not to say

3%

13% 13% 13%

18%

7% 7%

4%

22%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%<266 $266 - $799 $800 - $1599 $1600 - $2665 $2666 - $5332 $5333 - $7999 $8000 - $13332 $13333> Prefer not to say

11%

22%

14% 14%

12%

3%2% 1%

21%

INCOME LEVELS - KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA"The spread of income distribution is consistent across Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia and to an extent Lebanon. Egypt and Jordan on the other hand have a larger proportion of consumers towards the lower end of the income spectrum."


40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

<266 $266 - $799 $800 - $1599 $1600 - $2665 $2666 - $5332 $5333 - $7999 $8000 - $13332 $13333> Prefer not to say

21%

37%

14%

6%

3%1% 1%

17%

.40%

INCOME LEVELS - EGYPT"The spread of income distribution is consistent across Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia and to an extent Lebanon. Egypt and Jordan on the other hand have a larger proportion of consumers towards the lower end of the income spectrum."


30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%<266 $266 - $799 $800 - $1599 $1600 - $2665 $2666 - $5332 $5333 - $7999 $8000 - $13332 $13333> Prefer not to say

2%

13%

15%

19%

23%

6%

3%2%

17%

INCOME LEVELS - KUWAIT"The spread of income distribution is consistent across Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia and to an extent Lebanon. Egypt and Jordan on the other hand have a larger proportion of consumers towards the lower end of the income spectrum."


30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%<266 $266 - $799 $800 - $1599 $1600 - $2665 $2666 - $5332 $5333 - $7999 $8000 - $13332 $13333> Prefer not to say

2%

16%

20% 20%

24%

5% 5%

1%

7%

INCOME LEVELS - LEBANON"The spread of income distribution is consistent across Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia and to an extent Lebanon. Egypt and Jordan on the other hand have a larger proportion of consumers towards the lower end of the income spectrum."


40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

<266 $266 - $799 $800 - $1599 $1600 - $2665 $2666 - $5332 $5333 - $7999 $8000 - $13332 $13333> Prefer not to say

5%

38%

29%

11%

7%

2%1%

6%

1%

INCOME LEVELS - JORDAN"The spread of income distribution is consistent across Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia and to an extent Lebanon. Egypt and Jordan on the other hand have a larger proportion of consumers towards the lower end of the income spectrum."


Welcome to the State of Payments 2015 by Payfort. This is our annual report on the world of payments, ecommerce and innovation in the Arab World.

With data from the consumer and merchant side this report provides actionable insight that will help you create a more successful, profitable and consumer friendly business.

A year ago we released our first iteration of the State of Payments. That e�ort came out of a desire to increase our own understanding of the behavior of consumers in the countries we operate in and to share that information with the growing ecommerce community in the Arab World.

This year’s report contains the same consumer-centric data that will help you understand the market’s behavior in regards to payments and ecommerce. But it also presents a much fuller picture by taking in the opinions of hundreds of merchants who interact with consumers on a day-to-day basis.

We encourage you to share your thoughts on the report via social media on #StateofPayments or by sending an email to Faisal Al Khalidi (�[email protected]).

WHY THE STATE OF PAYMENTS?The report is divided into five sections: Airlines, Travel and Tourism, Ecommerce, Marketplace Services and Demographics. Geographically the report covers Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE. It is divided into responsive, interactive sections so you can view the data easily and with specific attention to your vertical.

We hope you like it and use it as a starting point for a conversation about the state of payments in the Arab World.

ABOUT THE REPORT

This report was written and created by the Payfort Team. Words were provided by Faisal Al-Khalidi, Omar Soudodi and Nardeen Abdalla while art came from the imagination and cursor of Seham Syed.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Faisal Al-KhalidiContent & Community Manager

Nardeen AbdallaMarketing Director

Omar SoudodiManaging Director

Seham SyedSenior Designer



Great care and detail was put into the data that informs this report. The Payfort team worked in conjunction with partners, merchants and consumers to gather primary and secondary data. The heart of our research was surveys that we conducted with hundreds of merchants and thousands of consumers across Egypt, UAE, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. This data was broken down by our in-house team of market analysts and country managers. Please find below notes on specific elements of the data. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to email Faisal Al Khalidi (�[email protected]). We will also try to accommodate any additional data requests if there are any areas where you are looking for a little bit of extra information.

Market Sizes

We used a bottom-up approach to evaluate the market and calculate market sizes. We researched the number of consumers in each market as well as average user behavior and combined this data with feedback from companies within each industry.

Growth forecasts are based upon historical rates as per data gathered between 2011 – 2015.

Travel & Tourism

Data is taken from online travel agents in the region across hotel and airline segments.

Ecommerce

This section includes any merchants that sell physical products online such as electronics, clothes and white goods.

This definition di�ers from a more expansive definition of ecommerce that includes non-physical products sold online as we wanted to cover those in greater detail. You can find this information in Marketplace Services, Travel & Tourism, and Airlines.

Demographics

The data in this section is based upon a survey of four thousand online buyers across UAE, KSA, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait conducted through YouGov.

Airlines

Data is based upon transactions via internet booking engines from established and low-cost airlines in the region.

This does not include bookings made through third party sites such as Expedia.

Other revenue streams for airlines are not included in this data.

METHODOLOGY


Transaction and Volume/Size

The data in these sections are not representative of the entire market but are instead a cross-section of 10+ merchants in each sector.

The data is intended to demonstrate the seasonality in each sector, however, due to confidentiality we cannot reveal true transaction figures.

The figures charted on the graphs represent divergence from the 12 month average. So if transaction volume figure in September is 3,000 that means there were 3,000 more transactions than the 12 month average.

All data is inclusive of online credit card transactions only. Cash-on-Delivery transactions are not taken into consideration.

Industry Surveys

Survey results are based upon 100+ responses to a custom survey created by Payfort. Respondents include SMEs (small and medium enterprises) and enterprise level firms.

Currency

All figures are in USD.

Ratios

Acceptance, Chargeback and Refund ratios are based upon surveys of businesses in the region. This includes firms that use Payfort and competitor payment solutions.

What is an acceptance ratio? This ratio simply tells us how many customers can successfully use their credit card on a website. This is based upon the number of credit card transaction attempts and the number of those transactions that are approved.

What is a chargeback ratio? A chargeback is when a customer says that they did not authorize a transaction and request it to be refunded. In short this ratio indicates the percentage of transactions that are reported as fraudulent.

What is a refund ratio? A refund occurs when the merchant and the customer agree to refund the purchase for one reason or another. Unlike chargebacks this transaction does not involve the issuing bank.

METHODOLOGY

The State of Payments 2015 by PayFort - ArabNet Digital Summit 2015

Economy & Finance

Transcript of The State of Payments 2015 by PayFort - ArabNet Digital Summit 2015