Cash on delivery used to be the default way to sell online across the Middle East. Not anymore.
A new Mordor Intelligence report on Middle East and Africa e-commerce puts a number on something we've been watching for a while: cash-on-delivery preference has dropped 51% across the region. Buy-now-pay-later is filling the gap fast, growing at a 14.2% CAGR, with BNPL penetration already at 42% in Saudi Arabia and 39% in the UAE. Digital wallets now handle a third of all checkouts region-wide.
Why this matters for anyone selling into Türkiye or the Gulf: your checkout stack is now a competitive variable, not a back-office detail. A seller still built around cash-on-delivery or single-card checkout is quietly losing conversion to competitors offering Tabby, Tamara or wallet options.
A few questions worth testing before you launch or expand:
- Does your payment partner actually support the BNPL providers shoppers expect locally?
- Have you priced in the merchant fees that come with installment and wallet options?
- Is your fraud and returns policy built for a market where cash-on-delivery is shrinking but not gone?
We'd treat this as a market-entry checklist item, not a launch-day afterthought. What's your experience — has payment localization moved the needle more than product localization in your markets?
Sources
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