It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like “Click-Mas”: How Brands Can Win The UAE’s Holiday Shopper

The UAE’s end-of-year shopping window has transformed into one of the most intense and opportunity-rich online retail moments of the entire calendar. What began as a modest gifting period has evolved into a fast-moving, multi-peak digital surge, driven by mega sales events, expat gifting behavior, rising tourism, and world-leading adoption of online shopping. 

This year, the “Click-Mas” rush is set to be even bigger. Reports say that UAE e-commerce has grown more than 25 percent year-on-year, with December repeatedly ranking as one of the highest spending months. Amazon’s UAE marketplace has recorded notable spikes in mid to late December, fueled by last-minute gifting, travel-related purchases, and demand for rapid delivery. 

And now, a new layer of consumer behavior is accelerating this dynamic even further: the rise of quick commerce. Platforms such as Noon Minutes, Amazon Now, Careem Quik, and Talabat are training shoppers to expect ultra-fast delivery, often within 15 minutes, depending on location. For the festive buyer who shops late and expects instant gratification, these services are becoming a powerful conversion engine. Brands that fail to list, stock, and optimize on these platforms risk missing out on an entirely new wave of last-minute, high-intention demand. 

In a market where consumers have endless choices at their fingertips, winning the festive shopper is now about strategy, visibility, and total marketplace readiness. 

The UAE’s Holiday Shopper: A Category Of Their Own 

The UAE is a globally unique market during the festive season because its customer base is incredibly diverse. With almost 90 percent of the population consisting of expatriates, the gifting culture extends far beyond the country’s borders. People buy for their families overseas, for gatherings in the UAE, and for friends flying in or out during the holidays. 

Three clear behavioral trends define this year’s festive shopper:  

1. They research early, but purchase late. Search and discovery rise from early November, but conversion consistently peaks between 15 and 26 December. Delivery promises and stock availability become the most decisive factors, particularly with the growing influence of quick commerce for rapid, last-minute orders. 

2. They want value that feels curated. YouGov data shows that UAE shoppers are increasingly drawn to bundles, limited editions, discovery sets, and well-crafted offers—not just deep markdowns. 

3. They trust algorithms more than advertising.  More than six in ten online shoppers in the UAE say that marketplace search results and customer reviews shape their buying decisions. Visibility is algorithmic long before it becomes emotional. 

What Winning Brands Do During The Festive Season 

Season after season, the brands that come out on top follow a similar playbook, shaped by data and performance on marketplaces. 

1. They win search before they win the sale Holiday buying is fast, reactive, and often last-minute. Shoppers do not browse endlessly. They click what they see first. Optimized titles, high-intent keywords, clear photography, and strong product detail pages push products up the ranking exactly when competition intensifies. 

2. They stay in stock at all costs During the festive holidays, availability is everything. Brands that forecast accurately, track fast-moving stock keeping units (SKUs), and replenish aggressively avoid the biggest seasonal risk: disappearing from the e-commerce platform at the moment demand peaks, including on quick commerce platforms, where stock turns are even faster, and visibility is highly placement-driven. 

3. They maintain pricing discipline The UAE is one of the most price-transparent markets in the world. Shoppers compare across platforms and even regions. Brands that protect their pricing architecture, avoid excessive markdowns, and use bundles or seasonal value formats outperform without hurting margins. 

4. They build trust before traffic hits Gift-buying is emotional, and shoppers lean heavily on social proof. Products with strong, recent, verified reviews convert significantly better during the festive rush. High-performing brands build that trust well before December arrives. 

5. They invest in advertising with precision The fourth quarter of the year is a competitive media environment. Budgets go further when directed at hero SKUs and high-intention audiences. Real-time bidding and adaptive optimization ensure visibility holds even as competition rises. 

Preparing For The Holiday Rush 

Brands that excel during the season think beyond checklists. They treat the festive period as a complete ecosystem where content, inventory, pricing, reviews, and advertising all reinforce each other. When these elements work in harmony, the customer journey feels effortless and fast. When they do not, even small gaps create drop-offs, abandoned carts, and lost market share. 

In the UAE, this alignment is even more vital because the market moves quickly. Travel behavior, weather patterns, public events, and regional celebrations influence demand overnight. The rise of quick commerce adds additional complexity, as brands must coordinate inventory not only across marketplaces, but also across rapid delivery micro-fulfilment networks. The brands that succeed are the ones that adjust consistently across December. 

UAE Seasonal Trends Worth Watching 

A few patterns are already emerging this year that brands should take note of. 

Beauty and fragrance remain dominant gifting categories, with curated sets outperforming individual SKUs. Electronics buyers prioritize fast and reliable delivery more than ever. Toys, home, and lifestyle categories peak later in the month, driven by last-minute buying and tourist activity. And premium products still convert well when paired with rapid fulfilment and strong reviews. 

Quick commerce is also shifting category dynamics. Essentials, beauty, personal care, and small electronics categories are seeing notable uplift via 15-minute channels, especially in dense delivery zones. For high-demand SKUs, availability on these platforms can be the difference between winning and losing the late season surge. 

Understanding these nuances enables brands to tailor their strategy, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach. 

The Opportunity Beyond The Season 

The holiday period is a moment to acquire new customers, strengthen marketplace visibility, enhance content, and gather data that shapes the next year of growth. The brands that win during the holiday season are the ones that prepare early, optimize constantly, and understand the behavioral patterns that define the UAE shopper. The season will end, but the advantage created by mastering it lasts far longer. 

About The Author 

David Quaife is the Managing Director for the MENA at Pattern, the world's leading e-commerce accelerator.