Digital commerce spending is expected to surge to more than $11.6 trillion by the end of this year, rising nearly 11.5 per cent from $10.5tn last year, according to a new report.
This amount includes money transfers and payments related to digital as well as physical goods purchases, digital ticketing, banking, bills and NFC mobile retail, Hampshire-based Juniper Research said in a report on Tuesday.
Mobile commerce will account for 73 per cent of all digital trade transactions by value this year, a figure that is set to rise to 79 per cent by 2025.
Mobile has emerged as the most important way to access services and user experiences must be mobile-first, the report said.
“Mobile apps are the dominant force in digital commerce, with user experiences becoming critical as products become heavily commoditised,” Nick Maynard, author of the research report, said.
“Merchants must leverage AI-based analytics to ensure a truly personalised mobile commerce experience … or they will lose out to more digitally adept merchants,” he added.
The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the uptake of cross-border digital commerce and payments. Digital payment systems have made it easier for small and medium enterprises to continue operations and for consumers to purchase goods and services from around the world.
Juniper Research said that consumer behaviour will become increasingly digital, rather than reverting to pre-pandemic norms.
However, reactive digital commerce strategies built by merchants during the pandemic need to turn into proactive, long-term strategies that offer the best user experiences, as competition in the digital commerce ecosystem intensifies, it added.
In January, global payments company Mastercard said up to 30 per cent of the Covid-related surge in digital e-commerce spending is set to be a permanent feature as the online share of retail spending in the Middle East and Africa region grows.
The company said 73 per cent of consumers in the region are shopping more online than they did before the pandemic.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
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Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
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Where to buy
Limited-edition art prints of The Sofa Series: Sultani can be acquired from Reem El Mutwalli at www.reemelmutwalli.com
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Brief scores:
Day 1
Toss: India, chose to bat
India (1st innings): 215-2 (89 ov)
Agarwal 76, Pujara 68 not out; Cummins 2-40
57%20Seconds
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