To acquire a better understanding of digital communication and e-commerce trends in MENA -alongside GCC, Central and Northern Africa and Pakistan- digital/design/integrated/paris launched a compact, data-driven report which consists of significant lenses to past, today and future of the e-commerce in the regions. In this very brief article, we are going to outline this specific report and highlights from the report of ddip analysts. The report is an extensive text that expresses the region-specific approach developed by ddip and suggests it analyzes accordingly. This report, which makes it possible to evaluate country-specific analyzes in the light of basic demographic and current outputs, also contains clues about the appearance of communication, communication trends, the course of digital marketing and the internet of the future in the region.
A Comparative Between 2020 and 2021Digital Communication Outputs of MENA Region
After the very zenith of COVID-19 Pandemic 2020, across the globe, daily routines of digital communication, internet consumption and online purchases had changed, swiftly and radically. Lockdowns not only restricted shopping alternatives but also introduced more medians, grounds and alternatives to users. This change re-shaped the consumption and trade dynamics in the regions, too. Overall consumption of the internet drastically increased, many users who are familiar with e-commerce opportunities became standard online buyers. Trends seemed various due to the vast diversity and socio-economic backgrounds of the regions yet some points were crystal clear and common for different actors. After this rapid change period, 2021 was a more nuanced one. Evidently, no recession or any sign that implies a recession in e-commerce did not occur, but, users' assessment of e-commerce dynamics changed in 2021. 2021 was a key year to understand the future and dynamics of e-commerce. In this token, countries varied by their economic potential and relation with the usage internet showed distinct inclinations. Exactly at this point, wide opportunities arise to rethink the communication dynamics of the MENA Region and to understand how these dynamics are customized according to countries. Although MENA is designated as a roof concept region in this report, it also includes differentiating trends regarding the internet in this wide and differentiated geography. Since these trends are too separate to be analyzed with a simple intra-regional categorization, they are also considered country-specific in the report.
Is There a New Player, In Terms of Digital Communication?
Trends on the internet and digital communication are fast. When we are talking about the MENA, trends are way more special. It enables the platforms that are capable or compatible of adopting local trends or circulation of user-generated content to acquire a larger influence. There was a player who satisfies those standards: TikTok! TikTok’s influence all over the world was huge. Yet, it was more game-changing for MENA. TikTok’s endless opportunities for content creation and circulation made it possible that TikTok to emerge as a crucial player, specifically for e-commerce. With the comprehensive "TikTok for Business" strategy that TikTok developed following this rapid rise in its user base, TikTok has also started to enable digital marketing in a wide range from content to products for businesses, brands and companies of different sizes. It can be immediately said in advance that the rapid feedback that this strategy provides on the points where it differentiates from equivalent and rival brands as well as at the same time, will clinch TikTok's rise from different perspectives in the MENA Region as well as all over the world. While it was discussed whether the success of TikTok as a different content production and distribution hub would be temporary like some social media platform experiences in the past, it seemed like a basic necessity for TikTok to maintain its momentum by turning to a long-term digital communication field.
What To Expect from 2022?
Now and on, digital communication is an inseparable part of internet penetration in the regions. As seemingly, e-commerce became a solid part of daily internet penetration all along. This symbiosis in the internet habitat is going to be more influential in every aspect of the internet in 2022. However, due to the economic and political reasons across the regions, it is hard to predict a continuous trend in this kind of rapid enhancement. For that reason, the future of e-commerce in the region will be closely related to scopes of localized and specified content. The rapid rise of digital communication medians and opportunities in MENA was a notion that was identified and projected prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Another main topic that followed the global pandemic's effect on the transfer of communication processes to digital channels to a large extent was the emphasis on "sustainability" and "green future", which the international community and separate countries put forward and discussed extensively. One of the biggest repercussions of these emphases in 2021 was undoubtedly the EXPO 2020 fair held in Dubai this year. The organization, in which sustainability is preferred as the consolidatory theme, and this theme is emphasized in many different channels from new buildings to attractive meetings and conferences, is one of the digital communication trends of the region that will emerge in line with these trends and trends when considered together with the World Cup organization that will take place in Qatar next year and which also includes similar themes. It would be easy to say that you will be impressed. We had the opportunity to see even the first examples of this paradigm revision expected to be experienced in digital communication in the vision developed by Saudi Arabia for the next 30 years. Likewise, we can state that this vision and the changes made by different sectors at the level of discourse and image will be among the leading themes of 2022.
Concluding Remarks on Digital Communication in MENA Region
The MENA Region is an area that is difficult to understand, to approach to the extent that it is understood, and to develop effective strategies in parallel with this approach, both with its depth and with its differentiating features. Therefore, in addition to sectoral dominance, especially when it comes to digital communication, being able to create a demographic and culturally specific approach to the subject and turning these approaches into applicable concepts, mechanisms and plans in certain contexts are possible concepts that may arise as separate problems. Overcoming all of these, firstly, necessitates a country-oriented approach in MENA, and secondly, this approach also necessitates a multidisciplinary and multi-layered approach. In a geography where communication is so lively and dynamic, diversification of digital communication is inevitable. In this period, in which the changing global balances after COVID-19 reframe digital communication, it is evident that digital communication has radically changed with the inclusion of concepts such as sustainability and green future.
You can take a look at digital/design/integrated/paris MENA Trend Reports to increase the success of your business in the MENA Region and to have inputs that will shape your company's communication strategies in the long and medium-term! When it comes to digital communication, ddip is with you in every geography and in every field!
