B2B eCommerce Trends in the UAE

At the height of the recent pandemic, customers had little choice but to resort to online shopping and with it, floodgates of business opportunities opened, most obviously in consumer retail.?

According to the Middle East Retail Forum, the region’s e-commerce sales are set to nearly double from US$26.9 billion in 2018 to US$48.6 billion by the end of 2022.?

B2B eCommerce has seen quite a significant growth since then due to the large adoption of digital services by businesses in the UAE and GCC in particular.

1. Wider adoption of digital services by B2B businesses - Thinking digital-first?

With the shift in the workplace and main roles being filled by a digitally savvy generation, the adoption of digital services by B2B suppliers and sellers drove them to build their own digital platforms or integrate with established Marketplaces to conduct business.

Access to a wider customer base, lower customer acquisition costs, and sophisticated promotional tools were a few of the reasons businesses in the UAE sought to partner with eCommerce platforms to conduct business.?

Convenience is another factor in driving the adoption of digital services. With supply chain issues and cross-border hassles including freight, licenses, and customs clearance; many businesses prefer to rely on third parties to reduce costs and fulfill operational gaps.?

2. Payments & Credit Finance?

Even online, there is still a strong preference for traditional payment methods: compared to B2C, where credit cards account for a large portion of all transactions, more than half of B2B purchasers still choose checks, terms, and purchase orders.?

Even while the traditional methods are still dominant, buyers and sellers are starting to see the advantages of digital payments, which could soon shift preference to newer, more effective, and efficient ones like business mobile wallets, credit cards, and even third-party financing.

Digital payment systems provide all parties increased speed and transparency while being significantly less laborious and expensive. However, making the move simple will require adaptability and a payment platform that can accept both conventional and cutting-edge payment options and interface with important corporate systems.

Since the introduction of credit finance offerings and the digitisation of payments on Tradeling’s platform, over 16% of our customers have increased their order volume due to the ease of payment and access to cash flow.

3. Customer Experience

Giant online retailers like Amazon were early adopters of the seamless, customised experiences that consumers now demand, and they are now typical across almost all B2C sectors.

B2B sellers are scrambling to apply the same concepts and procedures to their own online purchasing experiences now that the same B2C purchasers are taking on responsibility for work purchases.?

Similar to B2C, the emphasis, in this case, is on simplicity, usability, and logical information architecture. This makes it feasible for the customer to search and traverse the website fast, find the products and/or information they need, input or customise their order as necessary, and complete the checkout and payment process with the least amount of hassle and steps possible.

4. Adoption of Data & Artificial intelligence?

AI can carry out high-volume, regular, automated jobs without getting tired rather than automating manual tasks. The majority of the time, AI enhances and improves goods by adding machine intelligence.

The most common benefits of artificial intelligence are machine learning, customer relationship management, cybersecurity, smart pricing, and automated recruitment.

One of the disruptive technologies that are currently transforming businesses is artificial intelligence. It is obvious that implementing AI may help your company grow and give you a competitive advantage.?

Numerous businesses are currently judiciously integrating AI technology and have aggressive future plans. Adopting AI technology makes it simple to prevent human errors, enhance decision-making, process data more quickly, and steer clear of tedious duties. It is also key to enabling businesses to make better-informed decisions.

5. SMEs are the early adopters of eMarketplaces in the UAE?

Regional governments are investing significantly in boosting small-to-medium sized enterprises, a sector that accounts for 53% of UAE’s gross domestic product (GDP).?

In a recent survey run by Tradeling, when we asked businesses that had an employee size of less than 100, they outlined a number of challenges; more than one-third 36% of respondents said competition from other companies is their most important challenge.?

Nearly one-third 29% said the difficulty in managing cash flow is a key difficulty while nearly one-quarter 23% cited a lack of high-skilled workers, lack of investment from the private sector, and cost of supplies and inputs being too high as factors that make the business environment difficult.?

Purchasing supplies raises a number of concerns for SMEs, including challenges around sourcing and availability. Among the top concerns by respondents is: ‘not being able to choose between suppliers/merchants’ and ‘multiple and complicated deliveries’ 57% each; ‘not being able to find the right products or supplies’ and ‘availability of products or supplies when needed 56% each.?

In conclusion, high costs of storage and warehousing and access to a variety of products or product availability are the two challenges businesses feel that B2B e-commerce is best placed to solve. That is why we noticed a great adoption of eMarketplaces by SMEs in the UAE.