E-commerce in Egypt seen to grow 30% at 2022-end: report

E-commerce in Egypt is expected to increase by 30% by end of 2022, according to a recent report made by BOOST for Consultations.

The development of e-commerce in Egypt requires legalising new attractive laws given that the volume of e-commerce reached $100 billion in 2021, BOOST’s chief executive Sherif Makhlouf said.

This expected increase comes because of several factors, including the ease of dealing with buying and selling through different sites and great development seen by the Egyptian consumer due to the ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic.

Makhlouf referred that the e-commerce is the future version of the trade and it will expand in conjunction with opening more markets around the world, adding ready-made garments, food, electronic devices are the most prominent sectors likely to achieve a boom by the end of 2022.

E-commerce is one of the prominent sectors in Egypt in the coming five years, the official said, citing the companies’ increasing sales during the pandemic period because of the lockdown as well as the features of e-commerce.

The growth of e-commerce in Egypt requires subjecting it to monitoring and integrating them into the official economy, expanding and creating appropriate legislation for such types of trade, supporting its infrastructure and logistics, securing the rights of companies and consumers, providing a legal cover for buying and selling via the Internet, and regulating and restricting the work of e-shopping sites.

It also requires raising awareness among the public of the need to achieve the oversight role and setting up a commercial electronic network to facilitate the task of registering companies on the network to guarantee the safety of goods from companies to the clients.

Makhlouf urged the necessity for a rapid issuing of the e-commerce law and the integration of the formal and informal market, asserting the importance of developing the national strategy for e-commerce.

He also called to enact legal, customs, and tax legislation to regulate financial transactions in e-commerce systems, encourage banks to establish an advanced banking system that accepts electronic commercial transactions, adopt electronic payment systems and e-signature system, add an e-stamp service, and encourage e-shopping platforms to offer more discounts to their customers.

This year will witness the entry of more global e-commerce platforms in the Egyptian market in the field of food along with pumping more investments in the existing platforms, mentioning the entry of Amazon, Ikea, and Zara over the past period, he added.

Egypt is one of the most important countries attracting such kind of investments due to population growth and the consumption pattern of Egyptians, which had begun to turn to the online because of the coronavirus, Makhlouf concluded.