New research

A market report should change what a leadership team does next.

AIIMS Intelligence has released the UAE Commerce Index 2026, a connected research collection created for founders, chief marketing officers, ecommerce operators and market-entry teams making practical decisions about the UAE.

The index contains two studies. UAE Ecommerce Market Intelligence 2026 maps the wider commercial environment. The UAE Shopify and D2C Playbook 2026 translates those conditions into decisions about localisation, payments, fulfilment, lifecycle marketing, content and technical architecture.

The intention is to move beyond a collection of market-size headlines. Each study separates dated evidence from interpretation and connects the findings to choices a business can test, fund or reject.

The signals

Mobile and payments are not side notes in the UAE customer journey.

The published index cites a 2026 UAE ecommerce market-size estimate of US$12.30 billion and a forecast compound annual growth rate of 11.29 per cent from 2026 to 2031. It also reports that smartphones represented 78.67 per cent of ecommerce activity in 2025 and digital wallets represented 43.92 per cent of ecommerce payment share in 2025.

Those figures are attributed to Mordor Intelligence and are presented with their relevant dates. Market estimates change, so they should be revalidated before being used for financial, legal or investment decisions.

The operational message is more durable: a UAE commerce experience that treats mobile speed, wallet support and local purchase behaviour as later-stage enhancements is beginning from the wrong architecture.

Beyond translation

UAE-first is different from UAE-adjacent.

Entering the UAE is not simply a matter of changing the currency and adding an Arabic-language selector. Trust is built through the combined effect of language, layout direction, delivery clarity, payment confidence, customer support and local relevance.

The D2C playbook addresses Arabic and right-to-left considerations alongside lifecycle systems, marketplace pressure, social commerce, WhatsApp, seasonal planning and fulfilment. The point is not that every business must use every channel. The point is that the commercial system must reflect how customers in the market actually discover, evaluate and buy.

AI commerce

Discovery is expanding beyond the conventional search result.

The index also examines the growing role of AI-assisted discovery and personalisation. Product data, clear entity information, structured content and reliable feeds increasingly influence whether a brand can be understood across search engines, answer systems and emerging shopping environments.

AI commerce does not remove the foundations of ecommerce. It makes them more visible. Incomplete product information, weak local content and inconsistent pricing or availability data become harder to hide when systems are expected to compare and recommend products directly.

The programme

Research that stays accountable to its sources.

AIIMS Intelligence is building a wider publishing programme around recurring benchmarks, market analysis and commercially useful interpretation. Each report is intended to include methodology, source notes, findings, implications and recommended actions.

The UAE Commerce Index is the first connected edition in that programme. Its value will be measured by whether leaders can use it to ask better questions before they commit to a market, platform or growth plan.

Built for the people making commercial decisions, not just reading market headlines.