Saudi Digital Marketing
Saudi digital marketing opportunities. With an internet population of just over 94% of the population, there is a high demand for online goods and services.
Its also important to not that almost a third of the residents of KSA are expatriates from other countries like Pakistan, India, the Philippines, and Arab countries like Egypt. The number of expats has decreased in recent years with a push to replace foreign workers with Saudi nationals.
Basic Information about Saudi Arabia
Before you start on any online marketing campaign it’s important to understand the context with which you will be doing your marketing, so here we will outline some basic information about Saudi Arabia.
The country has a total population of 36,399,457 and from a land mass perspective, it is the third-largest Middle Eastern country. It is extremely oil rich with an estimated 15% of the world’s oil reserves and because of this citizens enjoy an individual tax rate as low as 0% if their income is earned in KSA. This low tax rate helps increase the discretionary income each family has for goods and services that could be purchased online. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is also the most stable economy in the GCC with a GDP of $833.54 Billion in 2021.
Saudi is a very conservative society rooted deeply in the religious traditions of Islam and the teachings of the Koran. Though this may present some challenges for some types of marketers, those sensitive to culture can see many opportunities to find unique ways to reach this audience.
Saudi Digital Marketing And Internet Country Codes
Saudi Arabia has both English and Arabic-based country code top level domains (ccTLDs) available. Though it may make sense to purchase a domain name with one of these ccTLDs
it should be noted that some of these domain extensions do cost much more than a .com or .org. Also, some of these domains require a physical address in the KSA or a local representative for your organization. For many international companies, it’s not worth buying a local top-level domain from an SEO perspective as we’ve seen many websites rank well on Google in Saudi Arabia with just a .com domain.
Country Code Top Level Domains
.sa
.السعودية
Second Level Domains
.com.sa
.net.sa
.med.sa
Most popular sites in Saudi Arabia
Saudis spend a great deal of time on the web. Below you will find a list of some of the most visited websites in the region regardless as to whether or not they are specific to the Middle East or not.
- Google.com
- Youtube.com
- Twitter.com
- Instagram.com
- Facebook.com
- Tiktok.com
- Whatsapp.com
- T.me
- Madrasati.sa
- Haraj.com.sa
- Google.com.sa
- Kooora.com
Saudi Arabia E-commerce
Saudi Arabia is the largest e-commerce market in the Middle East. What most fail to mention is that when it comes to physical goods that are bought in Saudi Arabia it used to be that 75% of those goods were bought using Cash on Delivery (COD). What is interesting to note is that digital payment transactions in the Kingdom jumped by 75 percent in 2020 as Saudi consumers embraced online shopping in new ways. Cash withdrawals from ATMs and other payment points fell 30 percent over the same period.
Don’t forget to follow our social media pages for more updates and useful information on travel and business:
Facebook: Facebook
LinkedIn: Ayla Company
