Saudi Arabia Quick Commerce Market Overview, 2029

Saudi Arabia's quick commerce market, characterized by ultra-fast delivery services within minutes, has seen rapid growth driven by the country's digital transformation and young, tech-savvy population. The market emerged as part of the broader e-commerce boom, particularly gaining traction during the COVID-19 pandemic, when demand for contactless shopping and quick delivery surged. Companies like Jahez and Nana Direct have been at the forefront, leveraging advanced logistics, AI, and data analytics to streamline operations and meet the growing consumer expectations for speed and convenience. Innovations in the Saudi quick commerce sector include the adoption of dark stores small, strategically located warehouses that cater exclusively to online orders allowing companies to fulfill orders quickly. These businesses have embraced AI-driven inventory management systems to predict consumer demand more accurately, ensuring product availability and reducing delivery times. The use of advanced last-mile delivery solutions, including electric bikes and optimized route planning, has also been pivotal in enhancing service efficiency. The market has faced significant challenges. The high cost of maintaining rapid delivery services, particularly in a country with vast and diverse geographical areas, has been a major hurdle. Ensuring consistent quality of service while scaling operations has proven difficult. The regulatory environment, though evolving, has also posed challenges, particularly in areas like data protection and labor laws. Despite these challenges, the market continues to evolve, driven by increasing consumer demand and ongoing investments in technology and infrastructure, positioning Saudi Arabia as a key player in the quick commerce sector within the Middle East.

According to the research report, "Saudi Arabia Quick Commerce Market Outlook, 2029," published by Bonafide Research, the Saudi Arabia quick commerce market is anticipated to add to more than USD 600 Million by 2024–29. Digital transformation is bound to be one of the key drivers of the Vision 2030 initiative in Saudi Arabia for diversifying its economy and removing its dependency on oil. The transformation will involve the adoption of digital technologies on a widespread scale across multiple areas, including retail, finance, healthcare, and government services. The government has cashed in heavy investments on digital infrastructure like the 5G networks, e-governance platforms, and smart city projects, and thus the specified industry is set to upscale at a fast pace. Indeed, this has fostered the penetration of e-commerce, fintech, and all kinds of local and international online service providers, thus positioning Saudi Arabia as one of the fastest-growing digital markets in the region. Saudi Arabia has a predominantly young population, 70% being under the age of 35. They are technologically adept frequenters of smartphones, social media, and the internet. Having grown up with and getting used to digitally facilitated ease, the young consumer now looks for quite a high level of speed and efficiency. They are the reason for the high demand for instant gratification when it comes to online retailing, food services, and on-demand services. This tech-savvy population is also more inclined towards the devices and services of the new economic age, and therefore, become an extremely important driver of the booming quick commerce market. Urbanization in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been another key factor propelling the quick commerce market in the country. Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam are the major populous and infrastructure eating cities of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Good road connectivity, logistics hubs, and transportation have gained operational spaces of Quick commerce companies. Due to most consumers being natured in towns, it is, therefore, possible to offer ultra-fast delivery fulfillment. When the warehouses are set close to the final consumer, the time taken to deliver is reduced.

Food & Grocery is the segment that is dominating the present Saudi Arabian quick commerce market. This because of the frequency and periodic recurrence of purchase of these essential family goods and once again, the convenience and speed assigned to the quick commerce platforms. The consumers prefer increasingly to order their groceries online so as to save on their time and effort. Real-time inventory management and cold chain logistic advancements have also helped the Food & Groceries market for its timely delivery of fresh produce. The area where there is significant growth is in the Small Electronics & Accessories section. This is due to the rising demand for gadgets and accessories by the general public fueled by technology advancement and the disposable income of consumers. Most of these products are easily ordered from quick commerce platforms, and hence, they come with the option of same-day delivery. These products target technology enthusiasts who do not like to wait for more extended periods for their ordered products. Some improvements interested in providing more significant product range and major electronics brands partnerships to offer their exclusive deal and before-launch products. For the stationery segment, these products are ordered by offices and institute/organizations in stationery demand. Quick-commerce platforms have a plethora of stationery products, which provide the ease to the end consumer to buy hassle-free, without visiting physical stores. Innovations in the segment could be in eco-friendly products, new touch to stationery products, and smart office supplies in line with the trend towards sustainability. Another big segment is Personal Care Items because of health and wellness concerns that also expand into personal grooming. Such platforms have offered a discreet and convenient way by the click of a button to purchase such items as personal care products, among other such items, hence having this market grow.

The major share and growth in the quick commerce market in Saudi Arabia are led by the online payment mode, which is powered by the great strides being made included digitization by consumers, convenience, and expedience of accessing digital transactions, and secure payment gateways offered by the quick commerce platforms. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend in an upward direction, as most consumers prefer contactless transactions. The advancements in this sector have the inclusion of various digital payments modes, such as credit/debit cards, mobile wallets, and bank transfers, with higher security protocols to protect the financial data from security threats. Cash on Delivery (COD) also is valid but significantly not as ever-growing as online payments. It's the choice of unbanked, underbanked or uninclined users not wanting to share their financials online. It gives a sense of security and control, where a person pays only after he gets the product. However, this segment growth is hampered due to those very reasons, that is, the operational challenges, like the need it brings about for change, the chance of payment defaults, and delay in payment realization brought to the quick commerce platforms. In this regard, it has come up with "pay on delivery" introductions, which allow the consumers to pay digitally in case of delivery, thus combining the convenience of COD with the benefits of digital payments.

The segment that dominates in the Saudi Arabian quick commerce market is Application Based Operation. Again, this is attributed to the high density of smartphone penetration and ease expressed by mobile apps. Apps provide an interactive interface, personalized shopping experiences, and real-time updates on orders, thus becoming the preferred choice for consumers. Moreover, apps can leverage device capabilities, like Global Positioning Systems, to pin point locations and thereby facilitate delivery. It is still further fueled by the ability of apps to send push notifications that go on to provide promotions and updates that engage users and drive sales. The Hybrid Operation segment also grows rapidly, merging both app- and web-based platforms. Hybrid models owe their growth to flexibility and broader reach. It opens up the possibility to reach more customers especially those who not want to download apps or even use desktop computers for shopping by providing both an app and a website. Hybrid operations also experience SEO benefits, where websites can drive organic traffic and further improve visibility. Within this segment, developments include responsive web designs that make them app-like on mobile browsers, further thinning the line between apps and websites. Not as huge as the app-based or hybrid models, the website-based operation still services a specific set of consumers who just like the traditional web browsing. Websites provide more screen real estate for products and can, therefore, be more accessible to some customer demographics. All of this growth in the segment is at a disadvantage due to the trend moving toward mobile devices for shopping online and experience an app provides over a website. Some developments in this space include the optimization of websites for mobile devices and integration of search and filtering capabilities to facilitate shopping.



Considered in this report
• Historic year: 2018
• Base year: 2023
• Estimated year: 2024
• Forecast year: 2029

Aspects covered in this report
• Quick Commerce market Outlook with its value and forecast along with its segments
• Various drivers and challenges
• On-going trends and developments
• Top profiled companies
• Strategic recommendation

By Product Type
• Food & Groceries
• Stationary
• Personal Care Items
• Small Electronics & Accessories
• Others (Pets, alcohol, gifts & flowers, Medicines)

By Payment Mode
• Cash on Delivery
• Online

By Technology
• Application Based Operation
• Hybrid Operation
• Website Based Operation

The approach of the report:
This report consists of a combined approach of primary and secondary research. Initially, secondary research was used to get an understanding of the market and list the companies that are present in it. The secondary research consists of third-party sources such as press releases, annual reports of companies, and government-generated reports and databases. After gathering the data from secondary sources, primary research was conducted by conducting telephone interviews with the leading players about how the market is functioning and then conducting trade calls with dealers and distributors of the market. Post this; we have started making primary calls to consumers by equally segmenting them in regional aspects, tier aspects, age group, and gender. Once we have primary data with us, we can start verifying the details obtained from secondary sources.

Intended audience
This report can be useful to industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations, and organizations related to the Quick Commerce industry, government bodies, and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing and presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry.