Electronic commerce in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) is a challenging field due to the many aspects it involves. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), ECommerce adoption is very slow due to the existing barriers, e.g. immature complementary services and numerous possible threats. There has been a lot of interest in overcoming such barriers, both in the government and private sectors. A number of conferences, seminars, and workshops were organized by Ministry of Commerce and other private and government bodies to address different E-Commerce issues. This research is one of the first scientific studies of local E-Commerce. It assess the existing practices and the major barriers and challenges encountered by Saudi businesses in facilitating E-Commerce technologies. Our investigation includes both technical and organizational issues. However, due to the size of the problem, emphasis is put on evaluating technical solutions and their providers in addition to the overall impact of E-Commerce on organizations.