Amazon Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which one is better? How to choose?

If you want to open a store on Amazon, you must first determine the site. As an old cross-border e-commerce company, Amazon supports many sites for opening stores, but people are more willing to choose newly opened sites. So which one is better, Saudi Arabia or the UAE?

Which is better for Amazon in Saudi Arabia or the UAE?

The UAE is the largest player in the Arab e-commerce market. With the advent of a new era driven by e-commerce and social media, the trend of shifting to online shopping is becoming more and more popular. By the end of 2020, the average global online shopping penetration rate is expected to exceed 63%. As many as 83% of the 8.2 million Internet users in the UAE will shop online. It can be seen that the prospects for the UAE market are very optimistic. 20%-30% of the UAE people are polygamous and have large families. Maternal and child products and toy products will occupy a large market. And women's cosmetics account for a large proportion.

Saudi Arabia is one of the countries with the highest proportion of young population in the world. Mobile shopping is very popular among Saudi consumers. After the opening of cross-border e-commerce, Saudi Arabia has made great traffic and consumption. More than 50% of the Saudi e-commerce market comes from cross-border shopping. For Saudi consumers, the desire to buy for Ramadan has become more intense than other months of the year. New kitchen utensils, furniture, children's toys, and of course Ramadan decorations to fully enjoy the atmosphere of Ramadan, these daily necessities will be welcomed by Saudis.

The following is an analysis from the perspective of freight and logistics:

The logistics in the UAE are very developed, and the freight is relatively low. The air freight time is about 3-4 days, and the sea freight time is about half a month. This is very suitable for new sellers. Novice sellers can choose to ship by themselves. After the customer places an order in the background, the seller can ship directly from China to the UAE. This operation method does not have the risk of overstocking. However, it also has certain disadvantages, and the website traffic will be relatively low.

New sellers with strong capabilities can choose Saudi Arabia, where the revenue is high. Competition in Saudi Arabia is more intense. Moreover, the product life cycle is long. The so-called life cycle is the process of a product becoming a hit. After becoming a hit, the product is easier to sell. However, after becoming a hit, there will be many follow-up sales, which will form a price war, and the price can only be adjusted very low.

However, this kind of low-price competition will not happen in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has fewer SKUs, which is a great advantage. In addition, Saudi Arabia is a wealthy area. As long as the product is attractive enough, they don’t care about the price. In terms of logistics, Saudi Arabia takes a longer time than the UAE. The air freight time is about 10 days. Obviously, self-delivery is impossible because the transportation time is too long. And the transportation cost in Saudi Arabia is twice that of the UAE.

Please choose for yourself, and consider comprehensive factors such as logistics and product selection to see which site is more suitable for you. E-commerce in the Middle East still has a long way to go. If you want to gain something in the Middle East e-commerce, I hope sellers can seize the current opportunity.

At present, the development of cross-border e-commerce in the Middle East is very good. Due to the epidemic, e-commerce has developed rapidly, so Saudi Arabia and the UAE are both good markets. Therefore, many merchants don’t know which one to choose. In fact, both are possible and have their own characteristics.

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