Payments and e-commerce in Saudi Arabia

Discover how Saudi like to shop and pay online

Saudi Arabia

General Information

  • Population 35.3 m
  • Population 15 + 26.7 m
  • Online population 34.6 m
  • Area 2,149,690 km2
  • Currency SAR
  • GDP 842.6 bn $US
  • GDP per capita 23,842 $US
  • Card-based payments
  • Cash-based payments
  • Bank transfer
  • Wallets
  • Other
[{"label":"Card-based payments","value":"45"},{"label":"Cash-based payments","value":"13"},{"label":"Bank transfer","value":"13"},{"label":"Wallets","value":"18"},{"label":"Other","value":"11"}]
Banked population
  • Saudi Arabia 74%
  • Middle East & Africa 46%
  • World 67%
Credit card penetration
  • Saudi Arabia 17%
  • Middle East & Africa 8%
  • World 19%
Internet penetration
  • Saudi Arabia 98%
  • Middle East & Africa 47%
  • World 62%
Smartphone penetration
  • Saudi Arabia 82%
  • Middle East & Africa 43%
  • World 70%

40% of respondents to a survey by Checkout.com cited the opportunity to shop cross border as the reason why they shop online.

Cash is no longer the payment method of choice in the kingdom. E-payments have increased from 44% in 2019 to 62% in 2021 and are make up 94% of the value of all the payments.

The Minister of Commerce announced in May that the Saudi e-commerce market had grown by 32%, making it one of the top ten countries in the sector.

The most popular e-commerce site in Saudi Arabia in July 2022 was amazon.sa with 14.26 m visits.

Future e-commerce trends (2021-2026)

B2C e-commerce ($US billion)
2022 15.6
2023 17.9
2024 20.2
2025 22.5
2026 24.7
E-commerce spending per capita ($US)
2022 435
2023 493
2024 550
2025 604
2026 654
E-commerce spending as % of GDP
2022 1.8%
2023 2.0%
2024 2.2%
2025 2.4%
2026 2.5%

Saudi Arabia

The E-Commerce Market

Top e-commerce segments

  1. Fashion: 32%
  2. Electronics & Media: 32%
  3. Food & Personal Care: 21%
  4. Toys, Hobby % DIY: 10%
  5. Furniture & Appliances: 5%

Cross-border e-commerce

  1. Cross-border proportion of total e-commerce – 41%
  2. Value of cross-border e-commerce ($US billion) – 5.4 bn $US

Top 3 cross-border shopping origin markets

  1. China
  2. US
  3. UAE
B2C e-commerce growth 20->21
  • Saudi Arabia 15.1%
E-commerce % of total retail
  • Saudi Arabia 7%
  • Middle East & Africa 9%
  • World 20%
E-commerce completed on a mobile device
  • Saudi Arabia 42%
  • Middle East & Africa 47%
  • World 53%

The Credit Card Split

  • Visa
  • Mastercard
  • Local Schemes
[{"label":"Visa","value":"5"},{"label":"Mastercard","value":"3"},{"label":"Local Schemes","value":"92"}]
  • E-commerce market size 13.2 bn $US
  • E-commerce spending per capita 375 $US
  • E-commerce spending as % of GDP 1.6%

The information on our Insights pages has been compiled by us in cooperation with Datamatics and Wright & Brown. The data shown is partially owned by us and partially owned by GlobalData. © 2021 by PPRO Financial Ltd. No data and information can be used for any further publication without the explicit approval of PPRO.

Saudi Arabia

Local Payment Methods

BitPay Type Cryptocurrency Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Hyperwallet Type Bank transfer, Gift card, Prepaid voucher Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High PayPal Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Paysafecard Type Prepaid voucher Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Paysera Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Skrill Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Allied Wallet Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High UnionPay SecurePay Type Local payment card Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Apple Pay Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High DaoPay Type Carrier billing Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Google Pay Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Mobiamo Type Carrier billing Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Razer Gold Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High SWIFT Type Bank transfer Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High CASHU Type Wallet Regions Middle East & Africa Market relevance Medium OneCard Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa Market relevance Medium SADAD Type Bank transfer, Buy Now, Pay Later Regions Middle East & Africa Market relevance Medium Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance Medium Zip Type Buy Now, Pay Later Regions Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, North America + 2 Boloro Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 G2A Pay Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance Medium NETELLER Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Splitit Type Instalments Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3

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