As we move into 2022, cash in the UAE is taking its last breathes with 94 percent of the country’s consumers indicating they will continue to use digital payments as much as, or more than, in 2021 and only 1 percent of SMEs expecting their business to continue accepting cash, results of a new Visa study revealed.
A majority of small businesses in the UAE (71 percent vs. 59 percent globally) said they already are, or plan to be, cashless in the next two years while more than half of UAE consumers (52 percent vs. 41 percent globally) plan to be cashless by 2024 and nearly all (99 percent) consumers see benefits of a cashless society, according to the Visa Back to Business Global Study – 2022 SMB Outlook, released on Thursday.
In a sign that digital payments are increasingly about adapting to new commerce realities, 96 percent of small and medium businesses (SMBs) surveyed in the UAE (versus 74 percent globally) said accepting new forms of payments is fundamental to their growth.
As such, alternative forms of digital payments such as cryptocurrencies are gaining traction in the UAE, with 35 percent of the country’s small business owners indicating a willingness to deal with currencies such as Bitcoins and all of them (100 percent vs. 82 percent globally) saying they plan to accept some form of digital payments in 2022.
“Payments are no longer about simply completing a sale. It’s about creating a simple and secure experience that reflects one’s brand across channels and provides utility to both the business and its customer,” said Shahebaz Khan, Visa’s general manager for the UAE, Bahrain and Oman.
“The digital capabilities that small businesses built up during the pandemic, from contactless to e-commerce, helped them pivot and survive and by continuing to build on that foundation, they can now find new growth and thrive,” he continued.
Of small businesses with an online presence, nearly all in the UAE (99 percent) attributed their survival through the pandemic to e-commerce, which accounted for an average of 58 percent of revenue.
Due to ongoing supply chain issues brought on by coronavirus, 69 percent of UAE consumers (compared to 59 percent globally) are willing to buy internationally. The most important factor cited to help them feel more comfortable with international commerce is positive customer reviews (55 percent). This aligns to 86 percent of SMBs (compared to 50 percent globally) that plan to increase cross-border sales in 2022. However, a majority (96 percent) of UAE SMBs find it challenging to accept and process cross-border payments.
The Visa Back to Business Study was conducted in December 2021 and surveyed small business owners and consumers in nine markets: the UAE, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Russia, Singapore, and the United States.
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