Both the share and total volume of mobile shopping is growing in the MENA region, with the number of mobile purchases growing by 20 per cent in the MENA region in the first half of 2024, according to a recent analysis of more than 1.5 million mobile order by Mobmio experts.
Furthermore, data from the analysis also showed that not only are the number of smartphone orders growing, but also that people are willing to spend more. The average order value (AOV) in the MENA countries has risen from $25 to $31.1.
Notably, the UAE recorded the highest AOV of mobile sales in the world at $59. It is closely followed by Saudi Arabia with an average order value of $49.
Mobile publishers’ profits are on the rise
Sales and cash flow growth in this industry is too good to be overlooked, Mobmio analysts said.
Publishers are leveraging mobile traffic to skim all the cream off brand partnerships. Estimates show that MENA mobile publishers’ profits are up 25 per cent this year mirroring global partner revenue growth.
Brands are also increasingly turning to partnerships with mobile traffic owners. The number of MENA companies that partner with mobile apps, smartphone manufacturers and other publishers through partner networks grew by more than 10 per cent in 2024 and are expected to grow in 2025.
Technology challenges en route to growth
While smartphones are conquering ecommerce – brands are looking to further enhance their effectiveness with this sales channel, analysts revealed.
Companies betting on mobile traffic are evaluating statistics from multiple sources – ad networks and trackers. This data is often incomplete and makes reconciliation difficult. Teams of affiliate services such as Mobmio are also meet the same challenge.
Managers are spending more than a half of their time manually bringing all these disparate pieces of data together so that the brand can get a more clear tracking picture.
And even after these efforts, it is often impossible to achieve 100 per cent transparency and accuracy of stats, because these services and platforms provide already processed, secondary data, and may miss some of the indicators.
Brands are using two main methods to address this challenge: increasing the spend on staff and additional contractors, or automation.
Products that mobile shoppers want
The most popular product category ordered through smartphones by MENA shoppers was electronics. It accounted for more than 22 per cent of mobile sales in 2024.
The popularity of the category continues to grow considering it accounted for 19 per cent of purchases in 2023. Consumer electronics (up 18 per cent year on year) and phones and telecommunications (+16 per cent) subcategories grew the most this year.
Fashion is next in line with 17.8 per cent of orders, but its position in mobile sales in 2024 declined; in the first half of 2023, clothing, footwear and accessories accounted for more than 22.7 per cent of mobile sales.
Next in popularity are auto goods (8.4 per cent of total orders), tools (6.5 per cent), toys and hobby goods (6.2 per cent), and beauty and health products (5.3 per cent). MENA shoppers also like to order children’s goods (4.6 per cent) and sporting goods (4 per cent) from their cell phones.
Mobile sales of tools (+25 per cent), sporting goods (+22 per cent) and home goods (+21 per cent) grew the most in the first half of 2024.
