The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region emerged as a bright spot for online orders from marketplaces globally, posting a 21 percent surge in sales to hit a whopping over $25 billion in 2022 amid signs of a global slowdown trend in online sales post-pandemic, a latest study said.
Fashion category led the spike in online sales from marketplaces in the region last year with 29.5 percent of the total orders, followed by electronics and household goods, pushing previous years’ frontrunner beauty products to the fourth spot, the study by Admitad, a global IT major tracking the performance marketing industry, revealed.
A marketplace is a platform where vendors come together to sell their products or services to a curated customer base.
The study estimated that marketplaces sales on average currently account for more than half of all online sales globally.
The Admitad study also predicted further growth in online marketplace sales in MENA this year, despite a myriad of challenges facing the global economy.
“MENA marketplaces will see the trend of diversification of customer acquisition channels catching up in 2023 to accelerate growth,” Admitad experts said.
“The number of local content platforms and influencers in the region will also see a spike [this year], besides a rise in collaboration between brands and direct advertisers to offer rewards for orders placed,” they said.
The study identified convenient delivery options, a wide range of products in dozens of categories and aggressive and efficient marketing strategies as the key drivers for the growth in online marketplaces sales – both globally and in MENA.
“One of the greatest strengths of the major marketplaces has been their efficient strategy around seasonal sales,” it said.
For instance, Admitad’s stats showed that during Black Friday week in 2022 their global sales jumped by 55 percent compared to the ‘normal’ period.
In the MENA, however, the increase during last year’s Black Friday sales was slightly lower at 40 percent.
MENA buyers are craving fashion items and home goods
The study said though MENA shoppers follow global trends in product purchase preferences, their places in the ranking is different in the region.
“Among the fashion products category, accessories accounted for a particularly large number of orders by shoppers in the MENA region – clocking a significant proportion of inexpensive but numerous purchases.
“They also are one of the fastest growing categories by the number of orders from marketplaces – the number of purchases in this category almost doubled in 2022,” Admitad said.
Other products which hit high growth last year are shoes, automobile goods, toys, electronics and beauty products.
Offers to hook customers
While marketplaces offered a slew of rewards and promotional channels to woo customers, MENA customers preferred to follow recommendations and reviews on content platforms to firm up their purchase decisions – accounting for 28 percent of all purchases – as against cashback offers emerging as the top influencer for customers globally in 2022, the study said.
For local users in MENA, coupon sites were another big attraction for online purchases – accounting for more than 25 percent of their orders from the marketplaces last year.
Some traffic channels have become much more effective in attracting customers for marketplaces in 2022, the study said.
For example, according to Admitad, the number of purchases based on recommendations on thematic forums more than doubled last year.
Sales through contextual advertising, mobile app advertising and email marketing have also increased significantly in 2022.
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