E-commerce Adoption in Saudi Arabia - Research Paper Example

Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 1.0.Abstract 1 2.0.Introduction 2 3.0.Background information 4 4.0.Literature review 5 5.0.E-commerce scenarios in Saudi Arabia 10 6.0.Past E-commerce scenarios in Saudi Arabia 11 6.1.Figure1: Relative Advantage of eCommerce and Internet Banking on individual’s life 12 7.0.Present E-commerce scenarios in Saudi Arabia 12 7.1.Table 1: Online Shoppers by Age and Gender (2004-2012) 14 7.2.Figure 2: Growth of teledensity in Saudi Arabia 15 7.3.Figure 2: Owned payment card by Saudi people (2004-2012) 15 8.0.Future E-commerce scenarios in Saudi Arabia 16 8.1.Figure 3: Reasons for future adaptability to eCommerce 17 9.0.Current issues affecting E-commerce Adoption in Saudi Arabia 17 9.1.Table 4: Inhibitors of adoption of the online channel Saudi retailers 18 10.1. Figure 3: Factors inhibiting adoption of online retailing by Saudi vendors 18 10.0.Suggested solutions 19 11.0.Conclusion 20 12.0.References 20 13.0.Appendix 1: (Evaluated sites) 25 1.0. Abstract Electronic Commerce has had strong growing potential in Saudi Arabia. This has been due to maturity of the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and widespread internet. E-commerce environment and adoption in the country has been well-documented but that should not justify the fact that there is no paucity of empirical studies that have examined the adoption of e-commerce to develop the economies. This is as a result of internal set of factors. The aim of this study is to provide insights into salient E-commerce adoption in Saudi-Arabia. To achieve its aim, the research adopts frameworks including a conceptual model for E-commerce adoption. The analysis of the research also checks issues like; E-commerce preliminary adoption and Information Technology readiness of within Saudi Arabia.When all these issues are taken together, their findings show multi-dimensionality of the E-commerce adoption. The implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions for future inquiry are detailed. 2.0. Introduction Beginning with background information about Saudi economy and E-commerce status, this empirical research study was carried out in Saudi Arabian business environment. This follows the economic liberation programmes established mid1980s which have actually resulted in transformation of technology usage among Saudi industries. Moreover, background information document that familiarity with ICT and E-commerce has remained limited compared to other countries such as United States Emirates. As a matter of fact, literatures covering the adoption have been a paucity that they even fail to cover factors that might directly influence company’s’ or organizational tendencies towards E-commerce adoption. Further to this, studies conducted within the context of Saudi E-commerce statuses have been focusing on the adoption oriented towards the perspective of consumers rather than on organizational level (Alfuraih, 2008). This necessitates the need for further investigation into the actual issues surrounding adoption of e-commerce---basically includes evaluation of organization issues of e-commerce within consumers and oraganisations. Another historical issue that has been documented to have necessitated the adoption of E-commerce is the problem which the Kingdom faced in the mid-1980s. This was culminated by unfavourable oil prices. This problem led the country from being an economy totally dependent on the export of oils to the one focusing on the role of private sectors in boosting the economy.This therefore led to the government necessitating the growth of internet markets in the Middle East. As a matter of fact, statistics show that more than 80% of the country’s industrial companies use computers and the applications (Saudi Ministry of Commerce (2001). Technological innovations such as the World Wide Web (WWW) and Internet have enabled organisations in Saudi Arabia undertake transactions and collaborate across geographical boundaries. Indeed, E-commerce and its associated technologies are considered to be the key to the growth and survival of business in the competitive environment. E-commerce is understood to be maintaining business relationship, sharing business information and conducting business transactions through telecommunications networks (Alfuraih, 2008). Integrating these issues, within the context of E-commerce, adoption is defined as the generating, developing and implementation of the new innovation (Saudi Post 2009). Looking at Saudi economy and E-commerce status innovation implies to a new service or product, a new structure or administrative system or a new practice. 3.0. Background information The Kingdom has had internet connectivity for over 20 years. This follows her economic liberation programmes started around 1980s which have actually resulted in the total transformation of technology usage among Saudi industries.However, access to World Wide Web started in 1999 (Cronin, 2000). The implementation involved connecting all Internet access via a universal proxy server at the King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST). However, core issue has been to introduce E-commerce which could run Business-to-Commerce (B-2-C) and Business-to-Business (B-2-B) market systems. By the time of this report, these initiatives are at advanced stage but not fully achieved. In as much, there have been factors preventing the achievement of the afore-mentioned generic market systems. These include gender based discrimination and conservative nature of Saudi people which has really downplayed adoption of E-commerce. A research was conducted by King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in 2002 to determine level of E-commerce adoption and reasons behind low levels of E-commerce popularity in Saudi Arabia. The study which took two years surveyed on Saudi internet businesses activities and other users regarding inclination towards E-commerce and existing eBusiness systems. The findings collectively showed reasons behind levels of E-commerce and rate of its adoption within the Kingdom. This study has elicited another area of concern within Saudi Arabia. This is the evaluation of web presence within the Kingdom. Though evaluation of web presence has been a growing area of concern for both researchers and practitioners, the evaluation methods proposed have taken the perspective of E-commerce. These methods are often difficult to apply and general in their approach (Alfuraih, 2008). The relationship between web presence evaluation and E-commerce adoption in Saudi Arabia is based on the fact that web evaluation methods identify critical elements of E-commerce adoptions and website design and development. The layout of this report is as follows: the next part details literature review. This will be followed by E-commerce scenario where Saudi’s past, present and future E-commerce scenarios will be analysed. Thereafter, well documented literal materials to analyse reasons for low popularity of E-commerce in the Kingdom will follow. Other sections will review web evaluation methods and experimental studies.Finally, conclusions, potential and the various implications of E-commerce deployment in Saudi Arabia are summarised. 4.0. Literature review Studies have been conducted to understand the issue regarding E-commerce environment and its adoption in Saudi Arabia. While some of these studies are over 10 years back, their reviews are necessary as they help develop present and past framework of analysis. Study by SADAD (2004) documents that E-commerce adoption has been speedy though this has been affected by lack of individual and organisational house addresses, clear regulations and procedures on how people protect rights of individuals concerned. In a different research, Molla and Licker (2005) explain that low adoption of E-commerce practices especially among leading organisation can be attributed to citizens’ lack of awareness of these services. Regarding the lack of clear rules and regulation pertaining to e-commerce adoption in Saudi Arabia, this has not been mentioned by commercial organisations but also raised as emerging issue by Saudi consumers (Mustafa, 2011; Alkadi, 2008; Cronin, 2000). Looking at the issue from different approach, in 2007, Saudi Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) carried out an extensive study to evaluate the current situation of the Internet, and various aspects involving the Internet usage in Saudi Arabia (Communications and Information Technology Commission, 2007). One of the main issues raised by the research is the reason for rising level of E-commerce adoption by large organization but declining tendencies by small scale enterprises. As introduced earlier, for the business commercial organizations, Communication and Information Technology Commission have found that only 9% of Saudi commercial organizations, are involved in e-commerce implementation. It is reported that only 4 out of 10 private companies have their own website. This percentage takes on a higher proportion for the larger oil, gas and manufacturing companies. On the other hand, there are literatures that have been focussing on B-2-B and B-2-C domains. These literatures, unlike what is researched in other countries, do not only focus on technology, strategies or social issues but also specific aspects such as e-payment, trust, electronic branding, privacy, and performance measures (Kumar et al. 2000; Plant 2000; Rajput 2000). Nevertheless, literatures focussing on E-commerce adoption and popularity in Saudi Arabia have been simply anecdotal (Young 2003; Travica 2002). For this report, literatures reviewed will be recent studies in E-commerce adoption and popularity in Saudi Arabia. Recent studies reviewing literatures have explored the status of e-commerce in the Gulf countries (Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain) in relation to international e-commerce including (Alfuraih 2008). The possible issues affecting the growth of E-commerce in these countries include ICT infrastructure; confidence in online transactions, awareness and education levels, and low awareness for E-commerce. An interesting twist of event has been raised by Mustafa (2011). While researching on determinants of E-commerceCustomer Satisfaction,he notes limited access of internet accessibility, poor attitudes towards international eBusiness competition, lack of intra-regional E-commerce ce infrastructural developments as well as disproportionate internet penetration in rural areas. Other studies that focussed on urban areas of Saudi Arabia found that major obstacle for the progress of E-commerce is lack of customer trust in online merchants (Rayed AlGhamdi et al. 2013; Hani Brdesee et al. 2012; Sadiq et al. 2004). In their latest research, Alibaba (2011) adopted a qualitative approach and applied information obtained from a series of well-planned interview with 30 Saudi retailers on E-commerce environment in major cities and rate of its adoption by retailers doing business with international counterparts. Though the research shows that rate of E-commerce awareness and adoption is on the steady increase among Saudi people, most of retailers interviewed---65% argued that reasons why its adoption is slower compared to other developed countries is the setup cost, resistance to change, delivery issues and lack of e-commerce experience. This finding conform to that of Rayed et al. (2013) whereby regions such as Southern parts of Saudi Arabia which is largely populated by Zaydi Shias have had growing fear that merchants may sell products with defects and that once an online payment is made such transaction(s) cannot be reversed irrespective of the nature of the product. This factor has been even made complicated with Saudi cultural beliefs. Other schools of thought explain that E-commerce adoption has been negatively hit owing to the fact that infrastructural features and designs are less conducive in the sense that some servers take too long to respond, excessive graphics and animation, less attractive aesthetics and lower transactional capabilities (Travica and Olson 1998; Travica and Cronin 1996; Hani Brdesee et al. 2012). Hani Brdesee et al. (2012) are particularly concerned with long responding servers arguing that in some instances customers and merchants may make double or triple transactions on a single product. To better understand the the phenomena under investigation, group of scholars have developed a conceptual model for B-2-B E-commerce adoption and have tested this model using survey data from different firms in the private sector and public sectors (Alfuraih, 2008; RoyaGholami, 2011). This model posits that there have been steady increases especially around regions such as Riyadh in Saudi Arabia which has had the highest overall at 4.4 per 10,000 business sampled followed by Eastern region at 4.2 and Makkah at 3.7 (Hani Brdesee et al., 2012). However, Sadiq (2004) adds that studies have documented that IT sophistication affects firm’s ability to adopt E-commerce. The literatures cited suggest that Information Technology (IT) readiness that directly affect such adoption operates on two basic components; personnel IT knowledge and technical readiness (such as technological infrastructure) (Logta, 2011). Actually, studies on B-2-B and –commerce adoption in Saudi Arabia have been extensive and even touches on other countries.Saudi Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (2010) took a study in 2008 regarding E-commerce adoption that compared Saudi Arabia and other countries such as a Kenya and South Africa. This study also incorporatedeCommerce adoption as well as their practice on B-2-B eCommerce. While Kenya and South Africa recorded different results, internet based B-2-B eCommerce transactions in Saudi Arabia was not effective in reducing costs of transaction or in the provision of a gateway to global markets for her regional developments. The conclusion made regarding the research indicates a collective set of factors, the lack of which inhibits eCommerce adoption - enhancing trust and ground rules (see appendix 1 for lists of sites surveyed). This conclusion relates with earlier findings by Communications and Information Technology Commission(2007) and that from the U.S.-Saudi Arabian Business Council (USSABC) (Hani Brdesee, 2012). In a related research, Information Centre - Saudi Ministry of Commerce (2006) also notes that Saudi people have unique cultures and practices which make it hard for applicability of eCommerce model that can suit its products. Additionally, most business, except oil are small and non-competitive in foreign markets thus unable to facilitate eCommerce adoption in the Kingdom (Gibbs, Kraemer and Dedrick, 2003;Molla and Licker, 2005). Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) model can serve as a useful conceptual framework for understanding E-commerce environment and its adoption in Saudi Arabia; especially when King Abdul Aziz electronic city is used as a case study. Scholars who have adopted this model see innovation as important factor that has promoted E-commerce adoption in Saudi Arabia (Salkind, 2012). Other schools of thought see DOI model as innovation diffusion process. By this, the researches argue that E-commerce adoption in major cities such as Mecca, Ad Dammam, Riyadh, Medina and Jeddah have been promoted by factors like (1) type of innovation-decision (optional, collective, authority) (2) perceived attributes of the innovation which enable/inhibit its adoption. While in an attempt to obtain quantitative indications of the relative strengths of E-commerce adoption in leading institutions such asAl Rajhi Banking and Investment Corp and Saudi American Bank – Samba, Salkind (2012) concludes that there are variety of factors that affect firms propensity to adopt E-commerce in their operations but from 2001-2011, banks and other monetary institutions within Saudi Arabia tend to adopt E-trading as other institutions abroad only transact their business online. It can generally be concluded, from the reviews above that there have been efforts on adoption of eCommerce in Saudi Arabia. However, there have been few efforts concentrated on the penetration of internet accessibility in the interior parts of the Kingdom in general. This report documents the broader framework of identifying eCommerce adoption in Saudi Arabia and reasons for its low popularity in the Kingdom. 5.0. E-commerce scenarios in Saudi Arabia In terms of its spread and strength, E-commerce scenario in Saudi Arabia lies in the Kingdom being at the centre of the Islamic World with the largest economy ($168 billion) (Gibbs et al., 2003). This means Saudi people have been providing potentially wide consumer base thus generating a need for E-commerce environment. Further to this, there are significant high youth population and the presence of large Information Technology companies in the Kingdom which give E-commerce adoption a major advantage and a competitive edge regionally (Icon Group International, 2000). As the scenario stands at the moment, there are five major IT oriented financial organisations that provide competitive E-commerce. One of such is the Saudi American Bank (SAMBA) which has adopted services such as SambaConnect, Samba E-Wallet, and Samba E-Banking. Clearer picture of the current E-commerce adoption in Saudi Arabia is suggested by the Saudi Telecomm Company (STC). STC is continuing to develop a high speed network connecting most parts of the Kingdom together. Currently, the main regions of the Kingdom are covered by this backbone with expansion planned for the remaining regions. ISU and all ISPs are connected to the National Backbone which carries Internet traffic inside the Kingdom and to the International Link (AlGhamdi et al. 2011). In terms of infrastructure, a key impetus for E-commerce adoption readiness in the extent at which there are Internet access in major towns and isolated regions within the Kingdom. Going by the most recent estimate by King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology (2010), there are over 650,000 internet subscribers in the Kingdom and more than half of this number participates in E-commerce. This is actually conceptualised by the availability of over thirty licensed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Saudi Arabia who are responsible for Internet access small scale business operations as well as large organisations and banking institutions. The Kingdom’s bandwidth of 2Mbps also gives her a reason to be in the right direction towards E-commerce adoption (King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology, 2010). In addition to these, dial-up connectivity stands to be the ubiquitous Internet access for large, small and medium business activities. Recent studies estimate that there are over five million access lines and this figure is expected to triple by 2015 (Salkind, 2012). This is actually a growing teledensity throughout the country, implying a strong telecommunication infrastructure capable of supporting large-scale dial-up connectivity thus facilitating E-commerce adoption. 6.0. Past E-commerce scenarios in Saudi Arabia Historical E-commerce adoption in Saudi Arabia traces back between 1990 and 2000 where there had been a notable proliferation to adopt or start up online retailing systems.Internet Software Consortium Survey (1994) also reports that earlier E-commerce development was as a result of significant youth population and large IT companies in the Kingdom which actually had strong base to the modern infrastructural developments. 6.1. Figure1: Relative Advantage of eCommerce and Internet Banking on individual’s life Source: Internet Software Consortium Survey The figure above shows that by 1990s, Saudi people had positive view about E-commerce and Internet banking even though there was no internet connectivity traversing the Kingdom till 1999. Internet Software Consortium Survey (1994) reveals that 71 % affirmed that adoption of E-commerce for banking and shopping makes life convenient while 9% felt no change. The conclusion is that there has been growing interest for E-commerce adoption by Saudi people. 7.0. Present E-commerce scenarios in Saudi Arabia With regard to present E-commerce adoption in Saudi Arabia, the rapid growth of consuming ICT has been notable. That is, at this particular time the efforts towards E-commerce adoption have reached its original expected aspirations (Alibaba, 2011).Much of development in E-commerce adoption is attributed to Saudi Ministry of Commerce who introduced a good step towards E-commerce development in the country by establishing a committee for e-commerce including members from different government and private sectors (Sait et al., 2007). On the other hand, currently, E-commerce is regarded as the key platform for streaming business activities as well as broadening product outreach. At the moment, the Kingdom enjoys high growth rate of internet connectivity; the Kingdom is therefore moving aggressively towards large-scale adoption of E-commerce system. In addition to this, there are sectors within the Kingdom that are slow in the adoption of E-commerce for business activities. An interesting twist of events was noticed in 2005 when a study was initiated to look into the level of E-commerce adoption in the Kingdom (Signore, 2006). One of the major aspects realised was the study on adoption responses from internet users which was designed based on two behavioral models: Theory of Diffusion of Innovations by Rogers and Theory of Planned Behaviour. In 2001, Ministry of Commerce (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) established a technical committee, including experts from Ministries of Commerce, Communication and Information Technology and Finance. The committee also drew members from King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) (Saudi Ministry of Commerce, 2001). The agenda was to streamline mechanisms for modern E-commerce adoption and participation. Recommendation of this committee has been the starting point for present E-commerce adoption and popularity among Saudi people. Since 2001, the rate of E-commerce adoption has been growing steadily. Going by the data recently released by KACST (2008), the rate of internet subscribers transacting business online has grown to approximately 574,000 up from 457,000 in 2003---with an average of 2.5 E-commerce users per subscriber. The figures below can best explain present scenario of E-commerce adoption in the Kingdom. 7.1. Table 1: Online Shoppers by Age and Gender (2004-2012) Years (age of the participant) %years 36+ 54% 25-35 53% 14-23 43% 16 and below 30% Rating sex (female/male) % years Rate of respondents basing on male 67% Rate of respondents basing on female 31% Source: Saudi Ministry of Communication and Information Technology Looking at figure 2 above, it can be conclude that about 50-53% of Saudi people have been shopping online since 2004. This trend has been increasing steadily. 7.2. Figure 2: Growth of teledensity in Saudi Arabia Source: STC, US Census Bureau The figure 3 can be related with figure 2 as they both help explain the rate of teledensity throughout Saudi Arabia. This is actually building blocks where estimation of E-commerce participants can be done. 7.3. Figure 2: Owned payment card by Saudi people (2004-2012) Source: Saudi Ministry of Communication and Information Technology The figure above indicates that almost half of the Saudis (approximately 48%) own online payment Card. Interestingly, the data above shows that about 70-80 % online purchases are done on Cash-On-Delivery with only 30% currently done online. 8.0. Future E-commerce scenarios in Saudi Arabia The future E-commerce trend is being shaped by what the country is witnessing at the present. Basing the argument from private and public Saudi organisations’ perspectives, the most significant future where the adoption is headed to is a situation where business and homes are transformed to online oriented business transactions---where homes can order products and services at the comfort of their homes. Basing on the statistics aforementioned, eCommerce industry is growing steadily in Saudi Arabia. The estimated number of eBusiness and eCommerce users is projected at 49 million by 2017 (Saudi Post, 2010). On the other hand, B-2-C eCommerce sales in the Kingdom is estimated to be $15 billion by 2020 (up from $4 billion in 2012) (Saudi Post, 2010). Lastly, the value of mCommerce in the Kingdom is projected at $3.1 billion by 2020. The projections above were based on figures below: 8.1. Figure 3: Reasons for future adaptability to eCommerce Source: Saudi Ministry of Communication and Information Technology 9.0. Current issues affecting E-commerce Adoption in Saudi Arabia More relevant to the adoption and popularity of eCommerce is the level of security. Based on the culture and religion of people of Saudi, security awareness has been a major issue in the implementation especially among businesses and individuals in terms of strong encryption measures. As reported by Alkadi (2008), currently, there are only eight servers in the Kingdom that can manage strong encryption algorithms of over 40 bit with four other servers using less effective encryption (algorithms in nature) less than 30 bit. This has been caused by lack of emphasis on security in the private sector. Another issue well documented in the customer trust regarding online merchants (Rayed AlGhamdi et al. 2013). While some people doubt the credibility of some sites, there have also been growing fears that some products may be faulty with such sites not guaranteeing refunds. This factor has been even made complicated with Saudi cultural beliefs. Alkadi (2008) also notes that Saudi people have unique cultures and practices which make it hard for applicability of eCommerce model that can suit its products. According to AlGhamdi et al. (2013), credit cards are the most common method of eCommerce dealings in the Kingdom though many people are reluctant using such cards due to the culture. 32 of the 40 respondents interviewed argued that the culture prohibits them from engaging in transactions linked with convectional interest rates. The table and figure below can help summarise other current issues affecting eCommerce adoption. 9.1. Table 4: Inhibitors of adoption of the online channel Saudi retailers Source: Source: Saudi Ministry of Communication and Information Technology 10.1. Figure 3: Factors inhibiting adoption of online retailing by Saudi vendors Source: Source: Saudi Ministry of Communication and Information Technology 10.0. Suggested solutions Based on the issues raised above, KACST has been drawing strategies to institute a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to secure Kingdom-world-wide-web E-commerce transactions. In addition to this, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) has been piloting an online payment system to necessitate Business-to-Business (B2B) E-commerce. This will be based on ‘Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication’ (SWIFT) technology. This will deliver straight and transparent processing of payment and share transfers to individual and business entities. Secondly, experience gained from this study recommends that managers of business organsations within Saudi Arabia should embrace or consider the best way or practice in dealing with their websites so as to reach the quality levels of international websites. I would suggest every Saudi commercial web to reach an improvement of between 30-40%in its appearance, customer-focus and content. Furthermore, Avatar technology (quality outbound services that touches on current issues) should be adopted in Saudi Arabia. This research realised that this technology has not been captured by in both domestic and regional websites going by the literatures reviewed. 11.0. Conclusion In summary, eCommerce adoption and popularity is steadily growing. Subsequently, business environment of the Kingdom has been giving eCommerce great opportunity for success, something which will position the Kingdom as a religion powerhouse in eBusiness and eCommerce. As noted, to achieve these, the country needs substantial improvements in telecommunication infrastructure with easy and affordable Internet access, while shifting towards broadband connectivity. In addition to this, the infrastructures mentioned in the report will only blossom if they are supported by skilled IT personnel. This will also curb the need for resources in the Kingdom. In as much, the research has also factored in issues that hinder E-commerce adoption in Saudi Arabia. These issues have been described explicitly. However, the most relevant practical implication of the hindering factors is probably those that can be drawn from the responses of Saudi businesses which have gained experience making online transactions. According to them, the most common inhibitors are lack of government support, unpleasant Saudi consumer habits and lack of well elaborated online payment options. Therefore while Saudi government projects to promote E-commerce adoption, enhancement of ICT infrastructure and government regulations should also be taken care of. 12.0. References AlGhamdi, R., Drew S. and Alkhalaf S. (2011). Government Initiatives: The Missing Key for E-commerce Growth in KSA.World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology.77(1), 1-10. Alibaba, (2011) "International online shopping website," http://www.alibaba.com/, accessed on 12 December 2011. Alkadi, I. (2008).Explore the Future of Telecommunications and Information Technology in KSA, Communications andInformation Technology Commission, Riyadh. Cronin, M. (2000).Unchained Value: The New Logic of Digital Business.” Boston, MA. Harvard Business Press.Davis, 1989. CITC (Communications and Information Technology Commission) (2007).Internet Usage Study in the Kingdom of SaudiArabia Communications and Information Technology Commission, Riyadh. Gibbs, J., Kraemer, K.L., andDedrick, J. (2003). 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