The rate of coronavirus infections in the Kingdom is gradually decreasing, while its economic impact, which some businessmen have described as “good,” is reflected in the shift to online shopping.
Large segments of consumers have resorted to online shopping during the lockdowns, in application to social distancing measures.
Several specialists in the Saudi market expected an increase in people’s interest in online shopping.
E-commerce specialist Afaf al-Askar told Asharq Al-Awsat that consumers in the Kingdom have resorted to e-commerce due to the coronavirus repercussions and the after-sales services that have seen a great development, especially by major commercial companies in the Saudi market.
She said the new developments have imposed a reality on after-sales services, stressing that they have become the main pillar on which e-commerce is based, and online shopping has become much easier for consumers.
Abdullah al-Bishri, one of the menswear merchants, said he suffered some losses since he wasn’t prepared to sell his goods online.
The Coronavirus has had a great impact on traditional trade, he stressed, noting that even before the crisis merchants noticed the increasing trend since 2019 for e-commerce in Saudi Arabia but thought it may not exceed 10 percent.
He also admitted an inaccurate reading of market trends by large segments of traders before the pandemic’s effects.
“Coronavirus has completely changed the trend as consumers now barely resort to traditional shopping,” he noted, adding that merchants must deal with the new trend as an existing reality and divert part of their sales towards e-commerce to meet consumers’ needs.
This development coincides with a study conducted by Visa Global Credit on the Saudi market.
It showed consumers’ increasing tendency to use digital payments compared to cash transactions.
According to the study, two-thirds of consumers in Saudi Arabia bought from online stores for the first time, indicating that 59 percent of them bought drugs from online pharmacies for the first time.
The study pointed out that 38 percent of the Kingdom’s merchants launched their websites as a direct result of the pandemic, while 57 percent already had e-commerce platforms before its outbreak.
Social Researcher Abdullah Marghalani, for his part, told Asharq Al-Awsat that people’s use of e-commerce in Saudi Arabia has social aspects.
It must be first acknowledged that the culture of e-commerce has increased significantly in the Kingdom over the past five years, even if the rate of people buying through traditional commerce was dominant at that time.
He stressed that resorting to online shopping was obligatory and imposed by the coronavirus outbreak.
