The ever-increasing expenditure of the e-commerce businesses is encouraging the government to increase the opportunities for online transactions, by introducing tens of their customers to smart payment methods.

The UAE consumers have been using cash over cards for many years now. However, the highly convenient methods of purchasing products through the various online e-com shops and apps have encouraged a huge move towards the electronic methods of payment.

MasterCard- the credit card used worldwide to make various purchases on and off the net has had an astonishing growth of 20.7 percent in their purchase transactions. They have had an unbelievable record of 9,932 million transactions in their branches of Middle-East, Africa and Asia-Pacific in 2014.

The advantages of electronic transactions are becoming more widely accepted among the consumers, said Eyad Al Kourdi, the country manager of MasterCard UAE in an interview with Gulf Business.

He further included that the fast increasing value of cash, estimated to be around 1.5 percent of GDP, is encouraging government bodies all across the Middle East to modernize their payment methods and move on to a smarter world of electronic payments.

He also said that the governments are now noticing that the electronic payments are a much better option than cash payments, in effect of transparency, security, and speed. Credit cards are more convenient to use because they are much more efficient, non-corrupt and even environmentally friendly.

At a basic level, the government is favoring smart payments mainly in the form of retail spends.

At the Cards & Payments Middle East event of 2015, The Department of Economic Development of Dubai has launched the Dubai Plus card– a multi-service premier card that is available only for the employees of the government.

This card will allow the users to make deals and guarantee their eligibility for loyalty points on their purchases. In addition to this, the e-payment systems have also found acceptance through the fast growing markets in the e-com industry.

Moreover, according to a recent report by PayFort, the e-com markets of the UAE have been recorded to be worth $2.3bn in 2014. It is estimated that if this continues, the e-com markets of Saudi Arabia and Emirates will soon reach a whooping value of $10bn.

On this matter, Eyad Al Kourdi said that such an enormous growth in the e-com business has had a major impact on the customers’ susceptibility to pay online. Furthermore, as the customers are always looking for greater convenience, effectiveness and security of the money they spend, these online businesses are increasingly gaining popularity as they provide the benefits of being able to shop from anywhere and everywhere just as long as you have technology at your hands pan.