Value of food e-commerce UAE 2020-2023

Since 2020, the retail value of food e-commerce in the United Arab Emirates has continued to Since 2020, the retail value of food e-commerce in the United Arab Emirates has continued to witness growth each subsequent year. The biggest increase in the value of food e-commerce was recorded in 2022 when it jumped by approximately 300 million U.S. dollars over the previous year.

Food e-commerce at a glance

Food retail is the fourth largest e-commerce segment in the United Arab Emirates. Food e-commerce refers to food items sold online, whether groceries, packaged food, or ready-to-eat meals, from retailers or restaurants. One of the biggest players in the food e-commerce space in the UAE was Carrefour UAE, which generated over 100 million U.S. dollars in revenue in 2023. The industry has also given rise to food delivery apps such as Talabat, Zomato, Careem (Uber Eats), and Deliveroo. Despite serving the same market, the average order value among the various delivery companies is quite variable.

Food self-sufficiency in the UAE

The UAE, like many other countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council, has been investing heavily in local food production with the hopes of becoming more self-reliant. While the self-sufficiency ratio of many food groups has increased in recent years, others like cereals continue to make up a sizeable portion of the country’s food imports. Cereals also make up the largest share of the food consumption in the UAE. As part of its initiative to produce more of its food needs locally, the country has been partnering with international agricultural research institutions such as Wageningen University in the Netherlands to implement innovative techniques for more efficient farming, including vertical farming and AI-augmented farming.