UAE e-commerce hits $11.5bln in 2025, up 19% annually since 2020

Summary

• UAE online retail sales reached AED42.2 billion in 2025, according to an EZDubai report
• Market grew at a 19% compound annual rate from AED17.6 billion in 2020
• Report projects AED67.2 billion by 2030 as online passes 20% of retail

The latest

Online retail sales in the UAE reached AED42.2 billion, or $11.5 billion, in 2025, according to the sixth annual e-commerce report from EZDubai Logistics Hub at Dubai South, compiled with Euromonitor International. That is up from AED17.6 billion in 2020, a compound annual growth rate of 19% across five years. The report forecasts slower but sustained expansion through the end of the decade.

Details

• The headline number: The report puts the UAE e-commerce market at AED42.2 billion ($11.5 billion) in 2025, against AED17.6 billion ($4.8 billion) in 2020. The implied compound annual growth rate of 19% means the market more than doubled in size over five years.
• The forecast: Growth is projected to moderate to a compound annual rate of 9.9% between 2026 and 2030, according to the report, taking the market to AED67.2 billion ($18.3 billion) by 2030. That is roughly half the pace recorded over the preceding five-year period.
• Share of retail: E-commerce accounted for 15.7% of total UAE retail sales in 2025, the report said, and is forecast to exceed 20% by 2030. That would place roughly one in five dirhams of retail spending online by the end of the decade.
• Regional picture: Across the MENASA region, covering the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, the e-commerce market more than doubled from AED232.1 billion ($63.2 billion) in 2020 to AED519.2 billion ($141.4 billion) in 2025, according to the report.
• Regional forecast: MENASA online sales are projected to reach approximately AED909.3 billion ($247.6 billion) by 2030. The UAE's AED67.2 billion forecast would represent a single-digit share of that regional total, leaving the bulk of volume concentrated in larger consumer markets.
• Leading category: Apparel and footwear was the largest UAE e-commerce vertical in 2025 at AED11.4 billion, according to the report, equivalent to about a quarter of total online sales. Consumer electronics ranked second, followed by home care products.
• Growth categories: Consumer appliances are forecast to record strong growth in the years ahead, the report said. It did not publish a value forecast for the individual categories or specify which segments are expected to lose share as the mix shifts.
• The publisher: The study is the sixth annual e-commerce report issued by EZDubai Logistics Hub, the dedicated e-commerce zone at Dubai South, produced in partnership with the research firm Euromonitor International. Mohsen Ahmad, chief executive of EZDubai, pointed to the maturity of the UAE's digital economy and to openings across the wider region.

Background

EZDubai is an e-commerce-dedicated logistics zone within Dubai South, the district built around Al Maktoum International Airport. Its annual report series tracks online retail sales in the UAE and the wider MENASA region, with market sizing supplied by Euromonitor International.

Between the lines

The two headline rates tell different stories. The 19% growth of 2020 to 2025 was measured from a pandemic-era base and off a low starting point, while the 9.9% forecast for 2026 to 2030 assumes normalisation. Penetration is the figure to watch: moving from 15.7% to above 20% of retail implies online capturing a widening share of spending even as absolute growth slows.

What's next

Whether penetration crosses 20% ahead of the 2030 forecast, and whether consumer appliances displace home care as the third-largest vertical, will be tested in EZDubai's seventh annual report.

Source: TradeArabia via ZAWYA; EZDubai Logistics Hub and Euromonitor International report