Ever ordered dinner, shopped and paid a bill without leaving your sofa? You’re not alone. New data from Visa shows that online and in-app payments now make up 55 per cent of all domestic Visa payment volume in the UAE, up from just 35 per cent in 2019.
Visa calls this shift the “couch economy”, and the numbers behind it are hard to ignore. The findings come from Visa Business and Economic Insights’ (VBEI) report, titled The Great Indoors: How the “Couch” Is Redefining Consumer Spending Habits.
How UAE shopping habits have changed since 2018
The scale of the shift is striking. In 2018, only 4.5 per cent of active UAE Visa cards were used for 10 or more online or in-app payments a month. By 2026, that figure had jumped to 25.7 per cent, a more than fivefold increase in under a decade.
Food delivery has been one of the biggest drivers. Back in 2018, roughly 2 per cent of UAE Visa cards were active on food delivery apps. Today, that number sits at nearly 30 per cent.
Put simply, a growing share of UAE residents are now doing much of their spending, from groceries to takeout to entertainment subscriptions, through their phones and laptops rather than in physical stores. Visa’s analysis suggests this isn’t a short-term blip either. The trend has been building steadily since 2019 and has now become a defining feature of how people in the Emirates manage their money day to day.
Why this matters for businesses and shoppers in the UAE
For everyday consumers, this is mostly about convenience. Digital platforms let you shop, order food and subscribe to services without stepping outside, and the data shows more and more people are choosing that option every month.
But for businesses, especially retailers, restaurants and delivery platforms, this is a signal worth paying close attention to. A market where more than half of all card spending happens online means companies that haven’t invested in strong digital payment systems or app-based ordering could be missing a huge and still-growing slice of consumer spending.
It also says something about how UAE residents are adapting to a more digital-first lifestyle overall. The jump from 35 per cent to 55 per cent of domestic Visa volume moving online in just a few years shows how quickly habits can change once convenient digital options become widely available. For companies tracking shifts like this, keeping an eye on sector-wide trends through outlets covering business news can help spot where consumer behaviour is heading next.
The near 30 per cent adoption rate for food delivery apps alone suggests that sector has moved from a niche convenience to a mainstream part of how UAE households eat. That kind of shift tends to ripple outward, affecting everything from how restaurants design their menus to how shopping malls plan their retail mix.
So what should you watch next? If this growth curve continues, online and in-app payments could keep climbing well past the halfway mark they’ve already crossed. For businesses, that likely means more pressure to offer seamless digital payment and ordering experiences, or risk losing customers to competitors who already have. For residents, it probably means even more services arriving straight to your couch, as reported by Arabian Business.
