The United Arab Emirates is witnessing a remarkable digital transformation fueled by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and the expansion of e-commerce, according to a recent study conducted by AI agency “Vista.” The report revealed that more than 80% of UAE residents now prefer shopping via mobile phones, highlighting a major shift in consumer behavior toward mobile-first experiences.

The study monitored the evolving habits of consumers in the UAE, noting that buyers increasingly rely on a combination of both Arabic and English searches before making purchasing decisions. It also found that shoppers tend to avoid slow or unclear websites and strongly prefer communicating with businesses through WhatsApp, due to its speed, transparency, and convenience.

Based on market trends in 2024–2025, the study emphasized that each additional second of website loading time can reduce sales by up to 30%, making performance optimization a critical factor for online businesses in the region.

Lara Eros, founder of the AI agency Vista, stated that “stores relying on manual work and traditional business models can no longer keep pace with the speed of the UAE’s digital market. The competition is no longer between store and store, but between intelligent system and system.”

The research concluded that companies that implement automated customer follow-ups, rapid responses on WhatsApp, automatic product page optimization, and bilingual (Arabic/English) content creation are the ones experiencing significant growth and market dominance. In contrast, businesses sticking to conventional methods are quickly pushed out of the competitive landscape.

In a real-life experiment, an online store that applied a comprehensive strategy - including improved website speed, WhatsApp integration, automated follow-ups, and optimized product pages - recorded a 270% increase in sales, achieved purely through enhanced user experience and strengthened customer trust, not paid advertising.