22.4% of Internet users in Egypt use e-commerce services, Arab Advisors Group survey of Egypt’s Internet users reveals

A new major survey of Internet users in Egypt was concluded by the Arab Advisors Group in February 2012. The survey revealed that around 22.4% of Internet users in Egypt use e-commerce services to buy products or services or pay their bills online. The Arab Advisors Group conservatively estimates the number of these users to be around 2.8 million, which is around 3.4% of the total population in Egypt. 

The survey report, “Egypt Internet users and e-commerce survey 2012″ was released on March 26, 2012 and provides the results of a major comprehensive online survey of Internet users in Egypt. The survey probed the patterns and trends of Internet use in Egypt including online and video gaming, mobile Internet, e-commerce, online banking (e-banking) and e-government. The report has 85 pages and 101 exhibits.

Respondents were randomly targeted by receiving an email shot in their inbox in cooperation with Egypt’s major ISP, TE Data. Moreover, TE Data also promoted the survey through their presence on Facebook. The survey results encompass answers from 856 respondents that passed rigorous quality control checks. Quality control was conducted by Arab Advisors Group’s team and included checking email addresses for authenticity and built-in question redundancy to filter out non-serious respondents. The survey was conducted on the general Internet population, including both genders and all age groups across Egypt. The online survey yields a confidence level of 99% with a margin of error of less than 5%.

“Due to the practice of broadband account sharing by households, the Arab Advisors Group estimates the number of households with broadband connections in Egypt to be around 2.5 million households by the end of 2011. This yields an effective broadband accounts penetration rate of 3.14% and an effective broadband household penetration rate of 14.64%,” Mr. Mohammed Al Shawwa, Arab Advisors Group Senior Research Analyst, noted.

The Arab Advisors Group survey questionnaire provides a focus on the following areas:

Cellular services

• Cellular subscriptions
• Smartphones adoption
• Internet usage through cellular handset

Internet usage

• Desktops and laptops at home
• Location and expenditure of Internet access
• Internet access at home
• An analysis of Egypt’s fixed broadband penetration and effective fixed broadband penetration
• Internet usage trends
• Listening to radio and watching TV online
• Phone calls through the Internet
• Social interaction patterns on the Internet

E-commerce

• E-commerce trends
• Egypt’s e-commerce expenditure calculations
• Perception of local and international e-commerce

Online banking (e-banking) services

E-government services

Games

• Online games
• Specialized gaming devices