The increase in Saudi women using the internet has corresponded with an increase in online shopping. (Image via alo.rs)

The ecommerce market in Saudi Arabia has reached 5.6 billion Saudi riyals (US$1.4 billion).

The rise of ecommerce in Saudi Arabia is not only related to its population of 30 million people, but also to their high income and the fact that 90 percent of residents in the GCC countries have access to the internet.

With this great percentage, the number of online shoppers in Saudi Arabia reaches 10.6 million users, a number much higher than it was in 2014 with 3.9 million.

Although the majority of online shoppers are still men (61 percent), the number of women using the internet and shopping online is increasing day by day. According to the infographic below, first published on Aleqtisadiahand based on data from Payfort, the number of female online shoppers has reached 39 percent.

Two years ago Wamda's partner Firnas published an article saying Saudi's ecommerce sector was "promising". Comparing this current data with that from 2014, we can show that there has been a massive increase in sales in the fashion and clothing sector, from 8 percent to 30 percent, as well as an increase in the sales in the health and cosmetics sector from 3 percent to 18 percent, an outcome that can possibly be linked to the rising number of women shopping online.

However, despite this increase, both airline tickets and electronics sectors are still the largest ecommerce categories with 39 and 38 percent respectively.

The most active age groups today are 26 to 30 year olds (46 percent), when in 2014, the most active age group was 18 to 25 year olds (30 percent).

Saudis are slowly stepping away from cash on delivery (COD) as their trust in e-payment methods increases. The use of debit and credit cards went up from 24 percent to 26 percent this year, and COD decreased from 76 percent in 2014 to 59 percent today.