Market Trends of Bahrain E-commerce Industry
This section covers the major market trends shaping the Bahrain E-commerce Market according to our research experts:
Significant Growth in E-Commerce is Expected due to Digital Transformation
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bahrain Government's priority was to ensure the continuity of services and ramp up its infrastructure and security to enable Work From Home, e-Learning, e-Banking, and e-Health initiatives. The use of digital workspace, healthcare, and other related platforms positively affects Bahrain's e-commerce market.
- Bahrain's government is launching various initiatives to strengthen the country's digital economy. The Digital Government Strategy 2022 aims to develop the digital infrastructure strategically. This strategy will focus on Strengthening digital infrastructure, data, and artificial intelligence, Accelerating the transformation and collaboration efforts of various public sector entities, Strengthening accountability, transparency, and civic engagement through open data and e-Participation, and encouraging innovation and nurturing entrepreneurship.
- Start-ups are accelerating the growth of Bahrain's e-commerce market. According to the World Trade Organisation, in July 2021, 24 accelerators and incubators have been authorized to incubate 761 start-up businesses in different fields such as IoT, technology, fintech, e-commerce, media, creative industry, and medical.
- Many financial service vendors are entering the e-commerce market in Bahrain to ease the payment options for customers. For instance, In May 2022, Tabby, a provider of Book Now Pay Later(BNPL), announced its partnership with Visa, financial services corporation, and M2P FinTech, an API infrastructure company, to make in-store payments easier with the availability of Tabby Visa Card.
- In February 2022, Mastercard announced its partnership with Payment International Enterprise to launch a digital program, Flooss, that will provide financial services in the Bahrain e-commerce market. This payment service will also offer an app through which the customers can make payments and add reminders for payments that are due.
Understand The Key Trends Shaping This Market
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Fashion is Expected to Hold a Major Share
- The fashion industry has recorded growth during the COVID-19 outbreak because customer preferences shifted towards online shopping with easy access to different websites, eliminating the need to visit physical stores. Several factors have boosted the demand for online shopping and retailing, such as the rise in users of social media and smartphones.
- Many e-commerce vendors are launching their online sites in order to meet the online shopping demands of buyers. For instance, In February 2022 - Youapp, a last-mile company, will be launching its multi-vertical delivery platform in Bahrain. This app will provide Fashion, Health & Beauty, Food & beverages, Lifestyle, Grocery, and Flowers.
- Similarly, In July 2021, Boohoo, a British online fashion retailer, announced its partnership with Kuwait-based Alshaya Group for building its Debenhams brand in the Middle-East region, including the Bahrain market.
- The rise in online shopping and work from home has driven the use of the internet for meeting home delivery across the customers. For instance, in May 2021, Sitecore, a software company, stated in their report that 86% of customers in Bahrain have switched to digital since the pandemic and want to continue purchasing everything online.
