The State of Ecommerce in MENA 2026
You’ve probably read the most recent annual reports by large vendors or ecosystem partners. They tell a story of payments and consumer sentiment and reflect what most ecommerce practitioners already know from their own data. What they don’t tell you is what your ecommerce strategy should contain, or how to futureproof your online shopping channel from disruption.
Honestly, I don’t really know what the true state of the Ecommerce ecosystem is in 2026. I can read the sales documentation of the platforms and the payment providers and the big system integrators, but it’s all written with an agenda. I could ask AI, in fact I did, and the truth is that the LLMs are not on the ground and are lacking some real-world understanding of the market.
I want to fill in the gaps - to understand the markets, the players, the technology and the customers. And as I learn, and put my discoveries through a truly independent lens, I will share them in a new Substack newsletter - Ecommerce MENA
What to Expect
My goal is to write a weekly newsletter. It will contain curated news that is specific to the ecommerce ecosystem in MENA. I plan on interviewing key people - practitioners, who are solving problems and making decisions. At some point, there may be a podcast - as far as I know there isn’t one that regularly talks about commerce from an industry point of view. Let me know if you would be interested in that!
The newsletter will be free - for now. I intend to keep the content as independent and objective as I can, which means that I won’t be accepting advertising, so I might launch a ‘paid for’ subscription level which will have extra benefits like networking and round-table event invitations and the like.
I also want to know what you want. So, please send your questions and I will answer them objectively, and if I don’t know the answer, I will go and try to find it.
The Independent MENA Ecommerce Survey
It would be good to know what people in the ecommerce industry actually know and think.
What do merchants know? What do agencies know? What if the results were not hidden behind an acquisition form?
We don’t need to know what percentage of people are using ecommerce in the UAE versus Saudi Arabia. We might want to know if the current platforms are really fit for purpose and whether AI is actually going to change the world, or if it’s just a shiny premium feature.
Please take some time to answer the survey. Responses will be anonymised and results presented in aggregate.