US, India, China top shopping corridors for UAE consumers

The US, India and China are the most popular shopping corridors for people in the UAE with most of them engaged in cross-border online shopping in the past 12 months, according to a new report.
The main drivers for UAE online shoppers to buy cross-border online are, having a secure way to pay (selected by 47 per cent of UAE online shoppers as something that would make them more likely to buy from website in another country), free shipping (44 per cent) and proof of product authenticity (43 per cent), according to PayPal and Ipsos' third annual cross-border commerce report.

The US was the most popular cross-border online shopping destination (16 per cent of UAE online shoppers have made a purchase from a website in the US in the past 12 months), with UAE shoppers spending an estimated 2.4 billion dirhams on purchases from US websites in the past 12 months.
13 per cent of online shoppers have shopped from India and 10 per cent from China.
The report investigated the online domestic and cross-border shopping habits of more than 28,000 consumers in 32 countries, to uncover opportunities for consumers in the world's commerce revolution.
Overall online spending continues to grow in the UAE, forecasted to reach 33 billion dirhams by 2018.

The research said that 68 per cent of online adults in UAE shopped online in the past 12 months, up from 63 per cent in 2015.
"The UAE's commerce revolution is well underway, and backed by the country's diverse and truly global population and high mobile penetration rates, said Kivanc Onan, Senior Regional Director, PayPal Middle-East and North Africa.
When considering where to buy from, 44 per cent of respondents agreed that they trust online stores from other countries as much as stores from the country they live in.