Report source
The data and analysis in this report rely on the official monthly and annual statistics published by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA). These statistics examine the value and number of transactions executed through point-of-sale terminals, cash withdrawals, and e-commerce, and they show the share of business sectors in spending across cities and governorates. This source represents a trusted national reference for monetary and banking data, ensuring the accuracy and credibility of the analytical conclusions.
Research criteria
The research methodology relied on an in-depth analysis of the quantitative data published by the Central Bank, while simplifying comparisons and referring to historical data spanning up to 20 years, especially when measuring the evolution of point-of-sale terminals and cash withdrawals, or referring to 2019 (the pre-pandemic year) as an exceptional year that reshaped the nature of trade and business activity thereafter. For the study of the past 12 months by city and governorate, we used a benchmark that extends only four months, because in June 2025 the Central Bank began breaking down spending across 60 Saudi cities and governorates instead of 13 administrative regions.
Who is this report for?
At Qoyod, we designed this report specifically to serve our valued customers among startups, small and medium-sized enterprises, and entrepreneurs, since understanding spending patterns at the geographic level is an important step in shaping growth strategies. As companies seeking to expand into new markets, this data represents a competitive advantage that helps you identify the markets with the highest spending density and direct your marketing efforts toward the largest and fastest-growing cities.
Point of sale in Saudi Arabia
Payment via point-of-sale terminals grew during 2020, recording a 24% increase in spending value and a 76% increase in the number of transactions compared with 2019. By the end of 2024, the annual increase reached 9% in sales value, climbing to SAR 668 billion compared with SAR 614 billion the previous year, and compared with just SAR 288 billion before the pandemic, an increase of 132%. The year 2021 marked the true leap toward point of sale.
The leap in transaction count and infrastructure expansion
Point-of-sale indicators recorded substantial growth in performance, as the number of transactions jumped from 1.62 billion transactions in 2019 to more than 10 billion transactions in 2024, alongside a similar expansion in device infrastructure, where the number of POS devices more than doubled from 409 thousand devices to over 1.9 million devices in the same period. This expansion confirms the structural shift toward a cashless economy.
| Year | Sales (SAR billion) | Transactions (billion) | Devices (million) | Average transaction (SAR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 288 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 177 |
| 2020 | 357 | 3.3 | 0.7 | 106 |
| 2021 | 473 | 5.1 | 1.0 | 92 |
| 2022 | 559 | 7.2 | 1.5 | 77 |
| 2023 | 614 | 8.9 | 1.7 | 68 |
| 2024 | 668 | 10.3 | 1.9 | 64 |
More transactions, lower average value
The average value of a single POS transaction declined from SAR 177 in 2019 to SAR 64 in 2024. This decline reflects the comprehensive shift in consumer behavior, as card and POS payments came to cover all forms of sales and services, from high-value transactions down to the smallest daily purchases such as fuel stations, laundries, bakeries, taxis, and small grocery stores.
Point of sale over 12 months
Continuous positive annual growth was the dominant feature, as POS sales maintained a growth rate throughout most of the period. The highest annual growth was recorded in December 2024 at 10%, while December 2024, March 2025, and January 2025 were the strongest months, all exceeding 8%. The only exception was April 2025, which saw a slight decline of 1% compared with April 2024, due to the Eid al-Fitr and Ramadan seasons shifting earlier into the start of March during the current year.
E-commerce in Saudi Arabia
The e-commerce sector outpaced others in growth rate. In 2020, sales value rose by 271% compared with 2019, accompanied by a jump in transaction count of 346%, indicators that clearly reveal the major impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the collective shift toward online shopping. In 2024, growth continued and sales value rose by 28% to reach SAR 197 billion, meaning it multiplied 19 times over 6 years.
| Year | Sales (SAR billion) | Transactions (million) | Average transaction (SAR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 10.2 | 38 | 269 |
| 2020 | 39 | 170 | 228 |
| 2021 | 74 | 348 | 214 |
| 2022 | 123 | 610 | 201 |
| 2023 | 157 | 874 | 180 |
| 2024 | 197 | 1,135 | 174 |
During the past 12 months (October 2024 to September 2025), e-commerce saw positive double-digit annual growth in every month (between 29% and 75%). July 2025 recorded the highest annual growth at 75% (from SAR 16.6 billion to SAR 29 billion), followed by March 2025 with 73% growth, while the lowest growth rate came in November 2024 at 29%.
Cash withdrawals in Saudi Arabia
In 2019, the value of cash withdrawals was SAR 740 billion, but it declined annually to reach SAR 552 billion in 2024, a drop of 25%. The year 2020 saw the largest annual decline at 15%, then the slowdown continued in subsequent years as the rate of decline eased from 7% in 2021 to 1% in 2023. In 2024, withdrawals recorded slight growth of no more than 1% for the first time, an increase that may not indicate a return to cash use but may instead reflect the stabilization of the essential cash-withdrawal base after years of sharp decline.
| Year | Total withdrawals (SAR billion) | Annual change |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 741 | · |
| 2020 | 629 | -15% |
| 2021 | 582 | -7% |
| 2022 | 555 | -5% |
| 2023 | 549 | -1.07% |
| 2024 | 553 | +0.72% |
The retreat of physical infrastructure: bank branches and ATMs
The digital shift coincided with a decline in the physical presence of banking services. After the number of bank branches grew for nearly two decades to reach its historic peak in 2019 at 2,076 branches, physical expansion gradually retreated to 1,905 branches in 2024. Similarly, ATMs reached their highest level ever at 18,682 machines in 2019, before gradually declining to 15,075 machines by the end of 2024, a drop of nearly 20% from the peak figure. This shift is not a decline in the sector, but a reflection of a digital revolution that changed the nature of banking interactions with the spread of electronic payment apps and customers’ reduced need to visit branches.
Issued bank cards
Central Bank data indicates continuous growth in the number of issued bank cards, as growth accelerated from 6 million cards in 2003, roughly doubling every five years, surpassing 20 million cards in 2014, then jumping from 34 million cards in 2020 to 50 million cards in 2024, an increase of more than 50% in just four years. Growth accelerated over the past 12 months by 22%, as the total rose from around 50 million cards in October 2024 to 61 million cards in September 2025.
The shift toward cashless payments
A structural transformation occurred in the spending mix over the past years. The share of cash withdrawals fell from 71% of total spending in 2019 to just 39% in 2024, while the share of electronic channels (point of sale and e-commerce combined) rose from around 29% to more than 61%. POS sales remain the largest channel within cashless payments, as their share rose from 28% to 47%, while the share of e-commerce jumped from less than 1% to around 14% by the end of 2024, then to 22.5% during the first nine months of 2025.
| Year | Point of sale | E-commerce | Cash withdrawals | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 288 | 10 | 741 | 1,038 |
| 2020 | 357 | 39 | 629 | 1,025 |
| 2021 | 473 | 74 | 581 | 1,129 |
| 2022 | 559 | 123 | 555 | 1,236 |
| 2023 | 614 | 151 | 549 | 1,313 |
| 2024 | 668 | 197 | 553 | 1,418 |
Consumer spending by business sector
The food and beverage sector (groceries and food stores) tops the list of sectors, capturing 15% of total POS sales (September 2025 sample), followed by the restaurants and cafes sector at 11.60%, with the two sectors together making up about a quarter of POS spending (around 27%). The transport sector comes in with a 7% share, and the clothing and accessories sector represents a large part of leisure and consumer spending with a 7% share. By contrast, the public utilities and services sector (0.37%) and laundry (0.38%) hold the smallest shares.
September 2025 (the end of the summer travel season and the return of residents and students) saw a sharp decline in travel-related sectors compared with peak months: the airline sector fell 20% month-on-month (from SAR 218 million to SAR 174 million), shipping and delivery services fell 32%, and the hotels sector fell 19% (from SAR 1.3 billion to SAR 1.1 billion), while core mobility sectors remained more stable.
Analysis of the consumer spending structure across cities
The analysis shows that spending is overwhelmingly concentrated in major cities: the total spending of the top ten cities reached SAR 39 billion, or 77% of total spending across all 59 cities. Riyadh and Jeddah dominate the scene, with Riyadh capturing SAR 18.87 billion and Jeddah SAR 7.53 billion, together accounting for around 50% of the total spending of all cities. The other five cities (Dammam, Makkah, Madinah, Khobar, Buraidah) follow significantly to form regional centers of gravity. By contrast, smaller and border cities are concentrated in a spending range below SAR 70 million over the four weeks, representing a small fraction of total spending.
| City | Spending (SAR million) |
|---|---|
| Ad-Darb | 41 |
| Al-Lith | 42 |
| Safwa | 47 |
| Ahad Al-Masarihah | 48 |
| Al-Badai | 49 |
| Turaif | 49 |
Summary of the transformation in consumer spending in Saudi Arabia
This analytical report shows a structural and sustained transformation in consumer spending patterns in the Kingdom between 2019 and 2025, driven mainly by digital acceleration:
- Dominance of electronic payments: the share of cash withdrawals fell from 71% in 2019 to 39% in 2024, while cashless payments (point of sale and e-commerce) rose to exceed 61% of total spending.
- Growth of point of sale and e-commerce: POS spending value increased by 132% between 2019 and 2024, e-commerce sales multiplied more than 19 times, and their share jumped to 22.5% by the end of the first nine months of 2025.
- Retreat of physical infrastructure: the number of bank branches and ATMs fell by nearly 20% by 2024 compared with the 2019 peak.
- Concentration of spending: the top ten cities capture 77% of total city spending, with a clear dominance by Riyadh and Jeddah of nearly 50% of total spending.
- Importance of sectors: the food and beverage sector remains the largest with a 15% share of POS sales, followed by the restaurants and cafes sector at 12%.