In case you’re hoping to fire up or expand an online market internationally, Saudi Arabia can be an exciting and attractive alternative. The nation is a large and as yet developing market of eager and Internet-wise consumers. The new E-commerce Law in Saudi Arabia has provided many opportunities for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses online. 

While a dominant part of countries in the Middle East practices severe internet censorship, Saudi Arabia is perhaps the most proficient in this task. The kingdom uses a filtering system to sort and censor material in two categories: improper and dangerous. The e-commerce law in Saudi Arabia lets Saudi citizens actively report corrupt websites. A security committee squares websites that reflect anything unusual or unsafe for Internet users.

What do the Numbers Say?

Recent research by a University in Qatar shows that around 10% of the Saudi population is buying products online regularly. The study also showed that about 8% of the population uses online banking services & makes a travel reservation online. Even though these numbers seem to be low, but when they’re compared with the online users of other Middle Eastern countries, Saudi Arabia outperforms in terms of building trust & purchases in online markets. In 2013, the Kingdom even ranked the second largest market for E-commerce in the GCC.

According to the GCC B2C E-Commerce Market Report 2018: “Higher growth rates are projected to propel Saudi Arabia to the leading position in the GCC B2C E-Commerce by 2020.”

In 2016, Saudi Arabia received an “Ease of Doing Business” positioning of 82 out of 189 countries by the World Bank Group. With the recent changes in the e-commerce law in Saudi Arabia, this positioning has dropped sharply in past years, just as it’s positioning in ease of beginning a business. Some latest researches even suggested that it takes an average of 19 days and 12 procedures to start a business in Saudi Arabia.

Even if you have an excellent knowledge of entrepreneurship & e-commerce business, it is a little difficult to begin without the expertise and legal support from a local attorney.