UAE e-commerce reaches $11.5 billion as online share of retail nears 16%
Online spending has more than doubled since 2020 and is forecast to reach $18.3 billion by 2030, with apparel and footwear the largest category.
UAE shoppers spent AED42.2 billion ($11.5 billion) online in 2025, more than double the AED17.6 billion ($4.8 billion) recorded in 2020. That is a compound annual growth rate of 19% across the five years.
The figures come from the sixth annual e-commerce report by EZDubai Logistics Hub and Euromonitor International. Online sales accounted for 15.7% of total UAE retail in 2025.
Growth is expected to slow from here. The forecast puts the market on a 9.9% compound annual rate between 2026 and 2030, reaching about AED67.2 billion ($18.3 billion). By then, e-commerce should take more than a fifth of all retail spending in the country.
Apparel leads the category table
Apparel and footwear was the single largest online vertical in 2025, with AED11.4 billion in sales. Consumer electronics and home care ranked among the other leading categories.
Consumer appliances are expected to grow strongly, driven by household purchasing power, demand for premium models and shorter replacement cycles.
The regional picture
Across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, online sales climbed from AED232.1 billion ($63.2 billion) in 2020 to AED519.2 billion ($141.4 billion) in 2025 — again more than a doubling. The forecast for 2030 is about AED909.3 billion ($247.6 billion).
That expansion is expected to rest on wider use of digital payments, higher internet penetration, more consumers participating in online buying and continued spending on logistics.
How the buying is changing
Several shifts sit behind the numbers. Retailers are leaning harder on artificial intelligence and data-driven personalisation to tailor what shoppers see. Quick commerce and last-mile delivery are spreading as consumers put a premium on speed and convenience. Social platforms and shopping are merging into new purchase channels. Digital wallets, buy-now-pay-later plans and embedded finance are shortening and loosening the payment step.
Government digital transformation programmes, transport and warehousing infrastructure, and connectivity underpin much of the regional growth. Continued investment in AI and related technology is expected to shape how these markets develop.
Mohsen Ahmad, chief executive of EZDubai Logistics Hub at Dubai South, said the UAE's ecosystem rests on digital and logistics infrastructure, government initiatives and payment solutions that keep evolving. He said the hub aims to keep supplying businesses and stakeholders with insight into emerging trends and the direction of e-commerce.
The deceleration is the notable part of the forecast. A 19% annual rate over five years gives way to roughly half that pace, even as the absolute value climbs by more than AED25 billion. Growth is no longer coming from a small base: online already carries close to one in six retail dirhams, and the projection has it passing one in five by 2030. That leaves the next phase less about adding first-time buyers at scale and more about how much of each household's existing spend moves online — and which categories move next.
