Riyadh, March 13, 2023, SPA – On the last day of the Biban 2023 Forum, the E-Commerce Council of the Ministry of Commerce discussed promising investment opportunities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Saudi retail sector, which is the second largest non-oil economic sector and the largest empowering sector for Saudi women.
The E-Commerce Council, in cooperation with the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monsha’at), reviewed the most prominent enablers and incentives for male and female entrepreneurs to invest in the retail sector.
The E-Commerce Council identified the retail sector’s connection to electronic stores and the significant growth witnessed by the retail sector to achieve the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which aims to raise the proportion of modern trade in the retail sector to 80% and to add 1 million job opportunities for citizens.
The total number of SMEs in the retail sector exceeded 440,000 by the end of 2022, while retail employment reached more than 1.7 million people in the same timeframe. Also, the size of the retail sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the national economy reached SR340 billion by the end of 2022.
The E-Commerce Council presented official statistics on the retail sector during the fourth quarter of 2022, indicating that the sector’s contribution to GDP amounted to about SR89.5 billion, representing 8.7% of GDP.
Source: Saudi Press Agency