After seeing triple-digit growth in 2020, food and drink e-commerce saw a double-digit increase in 2021. Despite this exceptional growth, expectations are that this high level of increase will be sustained over the forecast period, fuelled by better access and great improvements in last-mile delivery services, as well as the need for convenience.
Modern grocery retailers have spent the last few years investing in the development of e-commerce in the United Arab Emirates, and in 2021 consumers experienced many fewer delays and unavailable products than in previous years. Supermarkets have developed their own delivery services, while also working in tandem with hyperlocal delivery services, such as Careem and Instashop.
A major development in 2021 was Careem’s launch of its new rapid grocery delivery service, Careem Quik, adding one more player to the already booming category of food and drink e-commerce. The launch makes use of the ‘dark store’ concept – stores that are closed to the public and are only meant for online orders.
In 2021, Amazon announced the creation of 1,500 jobs in the United Arab Emirates, ushering in four new delivery stations and boosting its last-mile capability in order to hasten deliveries and help it achieve its goal of increasing its share of food and drink e-commerce as Noon steams ahead. It should be noted that Amazon Prime in the United Arab Emirates is amongst the lowest priced globally, at AED16 per month.
With its headquarters in Dubai, Noon is the region’s home-grown marketplace, and competes strongly with Amazon. To that end, Noon has been rapidly growing its on-demand grocery delivery platform, which works on a hyperlocal delivery model that promises to deliver in less than 60 minutes.
There continues to be an uptick in food and drink e-commerce, with further robust growth forecast over the next five years. This is due to increased consumer satisfaction, less reluctance to buy online, and bigger basket sizes.
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Internet retailing sales of food and drink (all packaged and fresh food and drink (hot drinks, soft drinks and alcoholic drinks).
See All of Our DefinitionsThis report originates from Passport, our Food and Drink Internet Retailing research and analysis database.
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