About 85 percent of the UAE’s 665,246 registered businesses still carry out their businesses manually – through the physical channels and needs to go online to survive. Companies such as HOD are working relentlessly to make the businesses future-ready through digital transformation….
The total number of registered active businesses in the UAE rose 1.9 percent to 665,246 in July 2022, compared to 652,885 licences issued in December 2019;
HOD – the Digital Partner for Growth – has grown business 100 percent in 2022, compared to 2021. Its number of employees doubled to 50 worldwide, up from 25 in 2021;
HOD launched 7 e-commerce platforms and working on three more, while it has signed up relationship with 60 e-commerce partners that forms the e-commerce eco-system;
The country’s B2C Ecommerce Gross Merchandise Value will increase from US$22.5 billion in 2021 to reach US$51.4 billion by 2026.
House of Digital (HOD), a Dubai-based digital transformation specialist, has announced the doubling of its business activities in 2022 due to high demand for digitalisation and e-commerce in the UAE.
Demand for digitalisation and e-commerce is expected to grow much faster in the coming days as more than 85 percent of the UAE’s 652,885 active businesses in the UAE do not focus on selling products and services online or through e-commerce platforms.
The total number of registered active businesses in the UAE rose 1.9 percent to 665,246 in July 2022, compared to 652,885 licences issued in December 2019, according to the UAE’s National Economic Register (NER). The register’s data showed that over 81 percent of licensed businesses are located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Dubai accounts for some 46 percent of the country’s total licensed businesses, Abu Dhabi for 23 percent and Sharjah 14 percent.
The largest percentage of issued licenses were for limited liability companies, accounting for 40 percent, followed by individual companies accounting for 33 percent. About 80-85 percent of the 665,246 registered active businesses fall under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) – who need the digital transformation services to take the business online.
HOD – the Digital Partner for Growth – is the game-changer for the region’s businesses. It transforms brick-and-mortar businesses and converts them into digital competent businesses through Digital Transformation and Marketing Transformation across the digital landscape.
The B2C Ecommerce Gross Merchandise Value in the UAE is expected to grow by 25.52 percent on annual basis to reach US$28.2 billion in 2022, according to the B2C Ecommerce Survey, 2022.
“The medium to the long-term growth story of the B2C Ecommerce industry in UAE promises to be attractive. The B2C Ecommerce is expected to grow steadily over the forecast period, recording a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 16.16 percent during 2022-2026. The country’s B2C Ecommerce Gross Merchandise Value will increase from US$22.5 billion in 2021 to reach US$51.4 billion by 2026,” the report said.
“The rising internet penetration rates largely drive the expansion of the e-commerce industry in the UAE. This, coupled with growing incomes, high possessions of smartphone devices, increasing presence of global players, and enhanced supply chain solutions, has supported the market growth over the last two years.
“While the country has been a cash-dominant society in the past, the global pandemic outbreak has forced consumers to quickly adopt digital payment methods.”
The growing trust in digital payment services has supported the rise of cross-border e-commerce in the country, it said. Notably, consumers prefer a wide range of products at lower prices from cross-border e-commerce providers. Some of the leading countries from which the consumers in UAE purchase include the United States, China, and India.
“The growing trend of cross-border e-commerce is expected to further support the growth of the overall B2C e-commerce industry in the country over the next three to four years,” the report says.
E-commerce in the UAE is quickly catching up with global powerhouses like the United States and China, with several shops ramping up their online services ahead of the global pandemic outbreak in 2021.
Due to high demand for digitalisation and e-commerce, the two-year-old HOD has doubled its business, by hiring 25 professionals across the world this year, over and above the existing 25 professionals it hired in 2021.
Praveen Kumar, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of HOD, said, “We have successfully launched 7 e-commerce platforms including a few online market-place start-ups in retail sectors, while we are working on three new e-commerce platforms that will be ready for launch in the first quarter of 2023,”
“At HOD, we are working with our clients relentlessly to create the digital e-commerce channels for them to grow their businesses. Since around 85 percent of the UAE businesses are still running on physical brick-and-mortar channels, we see a huge growth potential for the digital transformation of businesses.”
HOD has signed up partnership agreements with 60 major technology and logistics suppliers who work with HOD to provide end-to-end digital transformation solutions to businesses to ensure seamless user and consumer experience.
Karthikeyan, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of HOD, says, “Our leadership team represents an entirely new blend of business intelligence and tech expertise. Each member is dedicated to catalyzing change, delivering results and partnering with you to solve your complex business issues and help transform your business through digital technologies.”
