E-commerce sales to hit SR 50 bn in 2015

Annual sales of e-commerce in the Kingdom are projected to hit SR 50 billion by 2015, and the Kingdom will become the leading country in the region in this type of business transaction, an e-commerce expert said.
Director General of E-Mall Eng Majid Anzan said the volume of e-commerce involving business-to-business (B2B) exceeds billions of riyals while that type of trade between business-to-consumers (B2C) stands at nearly SR 100 million. The latter is modest due to novelty of the experience in the Kingdom, he said.
Anzan, who was addressing an e-store forum, said the B2C e-commerce in the Kingdom is promising unlike B2B e-market transactions which are well-established for years and growing at a rate of 15 percent annually. The Kingdom tops Arab countries in e-commerce activity which is steadily growing thanks to the application of e-commerce system by the government of the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques on the back of huge spending on retail sector and new technologies, he said.
He said e-commerce has become key drivers of the Kingdom’s economy coupled with the increase of the e-transactions and wide use of mobile phones, diversification of online payments for utility services and other e-payment platforms provided by the government.
E-Mall is a national project aimed at expanding e-commerce transactions inside and outside the Kingdom. The project is poised to expand projects of productive families and entrepreneurs dealing in 5,000 products being promoted and marketed online, he noted.
E-shopping is also meeting needs of the charity organizations through e-village gates which are specialized in handicrafts industry serving some 11 charity societies, he pointed out.