With only about 15 per cent of the world using cards instead of cash, some governments are pushing to move from cash to cashless initiatives
Dubai: Within the Middle East e-commerce has been growing slowly. Sirish Kumar, CEO of online payment company Telr, says that for e-commerce to grow, local commerce should grow, as more companies join to build their platforms online.
Kumar said that the cost of having a high cash-driven economy is enormous and there are many calculations. “The larger the cash-driven economy the more it is to maintain that economy,” he said.
With only about 15 per cent of the world using cards instead of cash, some governments are pushing to move from cash to cashless initiatives.
Why is e-commerce not growing?
e-commerce will grow because the local commerce will grow. We expect now with smartphone and social media penetration and certain banks taking out-of-the way steps for us to see e-commerce growing in the next five years in the UAE and KSA and then followed by other countries. This is where you will see largely the share of e-commerce which is less than 4 to 5 per cent in the countries. It will go up beyond 20 per cent and we expect at the right time to be 40 per cent.
A website is not the only way of selling online, you have social media, meaning Facebook and Instagram, you will have mobile phone. We think e-commerce will have a major shift in terms of growth rate. A very positive shift. Everybody says the UAE is a $2 billion (Dh7.35 billion) market, some say $5 billion market. We think it will go up above $10 billion market.
What do players like Telr do?