São Paulo – E-commerce is expected to reach USD 2.3 billion in revenue this year in Qatar, according to a study carried out by the Qatar Chamber (QC). Last year, online sales exceeded USD 2.2 billion in the country, with a 47% growth over the USD 1.5 billion in 2019, according to local newspaper The Peninsula. Picture above merely illustrative.
The report by the QC points out this market is evenly distributed between business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions. Local companies accounted for about 38% of operations, and foreign businesses for 62%.
The report informs Qatar leads the Middle East countries in average ticket per purchase, at USD 264. The most prominent Qatari e-commerce activities include food products and food delivery, groceries, clothes, gifts, electronics, and products related to beauty and fashion equipment, health services, in addition to technical games and sports, travel, ebooks, hotel reservations, households, and spare parts for cars.
The report points out an increase in the number of companies operating in foreign trade in Qatar last year. In June 2020, 350 companies were operating in the sector in the country, a number that rose to 416 at the end of that year, with 66 new companies entering the segment. Despite the growth in e-commerce, most payments – 75% – are still made in cash upon product delivery.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
