According to the latest FIS Global Payments Report 2023, credit cards are currently the most popular payment method, accounting for 41% of total e-commerce transaction values in the UAE during 2022 while debit cards represented 11%. Mastercard and Visa represent the biggest majority of card spending in the UAE.
Wallets were the UAE's second top payment method online, totalizing 24% of transaction values, against 23% in 2021, the report said. Cash on delivery showed a tiny 7% of e-commerce transactions last year.
Similarly, the same trend was observed amongst the point of sale [POS] transactions; credit cards cornered 40 % of transaction values, while debit cards gained 17% share.
Cash was responsible for only 18% at POS. Wallets are substantially increasing at POS, rising from 13% share in 2021 to 16% share in 2022. While the prepaid cards demonstrated only 7% of all POS transaction values.
The “2020 poll by Standard Chartered” report also disclosed that almost two thirds of people in the UAE (64% exactly) predict the country to be wholly cashless by end of 2030.
A report published by UK-based price comparison website Money.co.uk also classified UAE as the eighth most cashless society in the world in 2021.
As for the GPS 2023 report, the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) model is significantly hiking in the UAE, doubling its part of transaction values to 2% in 2022, compared to 2021.
That said, this model remains in its early phases across the country though, with high development opportunities mainly driven by local BNPL service providers.
The report forecasted that BNPL would keep growing in the UAE's e-commerce sector at a huge compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37% till 2026.
BNPL is also the Middle East and Africa’s fastest-growing e-commerce payment way as it is projected to evolve at nearly the same substantial compound annual rate (CAGR) (43% exactly) across MEA through 2026, the report mentioned.
Foloosi is one of the leading payment gateways in UAE, that is catering for every merchant's most specific needs, by continuously offering the newest payment products going from payment links, to invoice links to subscription plans... Striving to grow its merchants’ businesses, the platform provided them with online stores and marketplaces FOR FREE, where they can easily display, sell their products and increase their sales. Furthermore, Foloosi equipped its merchants with one of the newest payment methods that is revolutionizing the payments’ ecosystem, the Tap-On Phone service which enables merchants to easily process payments on their mobile phones or tablets, saving them from the high costs and inconvenience of the traditional POS machines.
