Egypt’s internet users spent an estimated $2.1bn on retail e-commerce in 2009

Arab Advisors Group major online survey of Egypt’s Internet market revealed that 34.6% of adult Internet users in Egypt use e-commerce (including bill payments). The Arab Advisors Group estimates the number of Egypt internet users who utilize e-commerce to be around 2.36m which is around 3% of the total population in Egypt.

A new Arab Advisors’ survey of Egypt’s internet users reveals insightful details on the internet and e-commerce use in Egypt.

These e-commerce users spent an estimated $2.1bn in e-commerce transactions in 2009 which includes bill payments online.

A new major survey of the internet users in Egypt was concluded by the Arab Advisors Group in April 2010.

The survey report, Egypt Internet Users and e-commerce Survey 2010 was released on April 12, 2010 and provides the results of a major comprehensive online survey of internet users in Egypt.

The survey covers the internet usage, IPTV, games, e-commerce, cellular and Pay TV usage and habits of the online community in Egypt.

The report “Egypt Internet Users and e-commerce Survey 2010″ contains 112 pages and 121 exhibits.

Respondents were randomly targeted by receiving an email shot in their inbox to ask them to fill in the survey in cooperation with Egypt’s leading ISP, TE Data, or by an online banner advertised on TE Data’s website.

The survey results encompass answers from 1,321 respondents that passed rigorous quality control checks. Quality control was conducted by Arab Advisors Group’s team.

The survey was conducted on the general internet population.

The online survey yields a confidence level of 99% with a margin of error of less than 4%.

“VoIP usage among internet users reached 46.3%. Of the total respondents, 41.6% use special software packages (such as Skype, GoogleTalk) to make calls through the internet. A small majority of respondents (53.7%) do not make calls through the internet.”

Mr. Hussam A. Barhoush, Arab Advisors Senior Research Analyst, wrote in the report.

The Arab Advisors Group divided the survey questionnaire into four main sections:

Telecommunications, Internet, e-services and Pay TV.

The sections provide a balanced focus on the following areas:

Telecommunications
• Cellular subscriptions
• 3G Cellular services

Internet Usage
• Internet usage trends
• Internet subscription types and ISPs used
• Internet usage
• Internet access methods and costs
• Mobile Internet
• Games
• IPTV

e-commerce and m-commerce
• e-commerce and m-commerce trends
• Local and International e-commerce and m-commerce portals

e-Banking services and Investments
• Online banking
• Mobile Banking
• Internet users’ investments preferences

e-government services

Pay TV
• Pay TV subscriptions
• Satellite receivers that can be updated through the Internet (such as Dream Box) usage

Arab Advisors are organizing the 7th annual Media and Telecoms Convergence Conference on June 7 & 8, 2010 at the Four Seasons in Amman.