Majority of UAE consumers believe 'less' in store shopping, says MasterCard

Dubai: The online shopping habit many consumers picked up during the COVID-19 lockdown phase will stay on – 54 per cent of UAE consumers now say they believe “less in store shopping”.

They will instead stick to contact-free and digital payment means, and lessening the number of times they take out cash.

“It is imperative for merchants of all sizes to ensure that they are offering a convenient, enjoyable and secure digital experience,” said Girish Nanda, Country Manager, UAE and Oman, Mastercard.

“We are protecting the interests of businesses and consumers alike and building technologies that ensure all digital transactions are trusted, secure and frictionless by enabling technologies like tokenization and leveraging our payment gateway capabilities with MPGS to bring them into market.”

Mastercard recently introduced ‘MDES for Merchants’ (M4M) offering in the UAE. It uses ‘tokenization technology to speed up and simplify the purchase process online and in-app, as well as for subscription-based and recurring payments like streaming music and video services. The new tokenization is also designed to protect security of consumers and merchants as shopping goes increasingly digital.

Mastercard has partnered with Checkout.com and FOO in the region to roll out this technology.