E-commerce, as it has been defined, is the process of exchanging goods, services, and information and delivering them electronically. Its beginnings were nearly 40 years ago, and to this day e-commerce is still growing and developing.
In 2001, the concept of e-commerce began to spread more widely among the countries of the world, but with limited profits compared to the huge numbers it has reached today. China has the largest e-commerce market in the world, reaching total annual sales exceeding $600 billion. Japan, whose sales exceeded $79 billion, while France received total sales of $43 billion.
These astronomical numbers, which exceeded petroleum sales in some countries, imposed themselves to prove that it is the successor to black gold with its profits in all parts of the world. And because everything is possible, someone came to open the door wide to e-commerce by enacting appropriate regulations, laws and legislation in the Saudi market, beginning with the establishment of the E-Commerce Council in July 2018, by a decision of the Council of Ministers based on the recommendation of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, which aims to organize and stimulate The e-commerce sector within Saudi Vision 2030.
Which is considered the beginning of e-commerce in the Kingdom and the beginning of the digital transformation in the Saudi market, officially with the full support of the leader of the investment renaissance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, after which came the giant leap in the e-commerce market with an annual total exceeding 4 billion dollars for the first time in the history of the Kingdom. In 2019, it was followed by an increase, praise be to God, in 2020 and 2021, making it among the commercial sectors that proved its resilience in the face of the Corona pandemic, and proved beyond a doubt that the Crown Prince – may God protect him – had made a right bet with his support for e-commerce, which flourished amid crises.
E-commerce is a mine for pumping billions. If you are willing to start with tens of millions, it is impossible to enter the field of e-commerce and aspire to profits exceeding the ceiling of one billion riyals, and your capital is only one million riyals, so keep that in mind, and take advantage of the opportunities provided to you by the Social Development Bank, whose support has reached… 3 billion riyals in implementation of the state’s decisions to provide full support to the Saudi investor to create new business environments.
Of course, like any other investment field, there are many challenges and difficulties that will certainly face any investor in this field, but this does not change at all that e-commerce, with its profits, is the undisputed new oil alone. Because the word is a trust, and after what I personally experienced of unlimited facilities, starting with obtaining a commercial register within a few seconds and ending with directing your entire investment in the field of e-commerce (specifically) without having to visit any ministry, all procedures are done through the website of any party. I used to call this pivotal stage that my country is going through (the time of opportunity and investment abundance). The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has not experienced an investment renaissance, especially in the field of e-commerce, providing full support and unlimited facilities since the beginning of its establishment, as it is experiencing now. The slogan of this stage will be (Invest…we support you).
