Will cash on delivery return post Covid-19?

Will cash on delivery return post Covid-19?

By Faris Fallouh, the Global Express and ground services director at Aramex

During this pandemic, consumers globally and in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region flocked to online channels to buy all sort of essential and discretionary goods. The effect of different patterns of areas and cities in lockdown, restrictions on movement, feeling unsafe to go out resulted in an unprecedented surge in e-commerce volumes.

Offering consumers the ability to pay cash on delivery (COD) has always been a necessary formula in the Mena region to grow the e-commerce sector due to the low credit card penetration rates and lack of trust in paying online.

For those in the industry, we have always thought that the appeal of COD would eventually weaken with the maturing of the ecosystem as a whole and with greater involvement of regulatory consumer protection agencies which can aid in creating a trusted environment for consumers. What no one could have predicted was the sheer impact that the coronavirus pandemic would have on daily life, which ended up accelerating consumer spending behaviour to online and ultimately pay online versus using COD.

Let's take a closer look at two key markets in the Mena region where e-commerce is extremely