According to Payfort’s report, the number of online buyers in the Arab region will increase by 14% during 2016, compared to 2014, as a result of the growing number of Internet users across the region, particularly in Egypt and Saudi Arabia during 2015.
Social networks play a key role in linking the consumer with e-commerce websites and are an important platform for marketing. The usage rate of social networks varies across the different countries in the region. Facebook still ranks first among social media sites in the Middle East, though its usage is relatively low in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Meanwhile, the website Pinterest is growing in popularity across the region despite being relatively new compared to other websites.
The report said that the number of people who use Facebook increased by 65% in Arab countries. This report involved the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, and Lebanon. Twitter ranked second among social media websites by 55% in Arab countries.
Instagram and YouTube came third in the Arab world, as the number of people who use each of them recorded 52%.
Google Plus ranked fourth with a 45% usage spread, followed by LinkedIn by 25%, Pinterest by 7%, then Flickr by 5%.
