KUWAIT CITY — High use of social shopping and AI-assisted discovery is creating opportunity, while consumers remain cautious about checkout, scams and responsibility.
A social-commerce market
Kuwait is leading the GCC in e-commerce through social media, according to a Visa executive interviewed by KUNA and reported by Kuwait Times. Visa’s 2026 Stay Secure study also found that 78% of consumers in Kuwait have purchased directly through social platforms.
The figures show that social media is no longer only a marketing channel. It is increasingly part of the transaction itself.
AI changes discovery
Visa reported that 86% of consumers in Kuwait have used AI to support shopping, including price comparison, gift ideas and review checking. Ninety-four percent said new technologies make online shopping faster and easier.
This creates opportunities for merchants that can make their products easy to discover and compare.
The checkout trust gap
Only 23% of respondents said they would trust AI agents to complete checkout. Consumers are comfortable using AI for advice but remain cautious about giving it authority over payment.
That gap matters for the development of agentic commerce. Platforms will need transparent permissions, confirmation steps and dispute protection.
Fraud follows growth
Visa said 40% of consumers had experienced a financial scam in the previous 12 months, while 45% of those affected said the incident occurred on social media.
Fast-moving social feeds can make it difficult to verify sellers, distinguish advertising from recommendation and understand return policies.
Who should protect consumers?
Only a small share of respondents believed consumers should carry primary responsibility for protection. Most expect payment providers, platforms, merchants and authorities to play a larger role.
That expectation is reasonable because each institution controls information and security tools that an individual buyer cannot access.
What merchants should do
Businesses should display verified identity, physical contact information, total pricing, delivery terms and refund procedures. They should also separate customer-service communication from payment requests.
Strong authentication and transaction alerts can reduce both fraud and customer hesitation.
The role of regulation
Kuwait’s developing e-commerce framework can support confidence by clarifying consumer rights and dispute resolution. Enforcement will be important because social sellers range from established businesses to informal accounts.
Regulation should protect buyers without making legitimate small-business entry unnecessarily difficult.
A Vision 2035 opportunity
Digital commerce supports Kuwait’s ambition to strengthen its commercial and financial competitiveness. The strongest growth will come from combining convenience with trusted payments and enforceable standards.
The market’s high adoption gives Kuwait a chance to shape regional practice rather than only follow it.
Editorial context
Social commerce compresses discovery, recommendation and payment into a single journey. That convenience creates growth, but it can also weaken the signals consumers traditionally use to judge a seller, such as a verified address, formal returns process or independent reputation.
What to watch
Trust is now part of digital infrastructure. Payment providers, platforms, merchants and regulators each control a different part of the transaction. Effective protection depends on clear responsibility, fast warnings, secure authentication and accessible dispute resolution.
Artificial intelligence can improve comparison, fraud detection and customer service, but consumers remain cautious about delegating payment authority. The gap between using AI for advice and trusting an agent to complete a purchase is commercially significant.
For merchants, the strategic lesson is that conversion cannot be separated from safety. Businesses that make identity, pricing, delivery, refunds and contact details easy to verify can build an advantage as consumers become more alert to scams.
Social commerce compresses discovery, recommendation and payment into a single journey. That convenience creates growth, but it can also weaken the signals consumers traditionally use to judge a seller, such as a verified address, formal returns process or independent reputation.
Trust is now part of digital infrastructure. Payment providers, platforms, merchants and regulators each control a different part of the transaction. Effective protection depends on clear responsibility, fast warnings, secure authentication and accessible dispute resolution.
Artificial intelligence can improve comparison, fraud detection and customer service, but consumers remain cautious about delegating payment authority. The gap between using AI for advice and trusting an agent to complete a purchase is commercially significant.
For merchants, the strategic lesson is that conversion cannot be separated from safety. Businesses that make identity, pricing, delivery, refunds and contact details easy to verify can build an advantage as consumers become more alert to scams.
Social commerce compresses discovery, recommendation and payment into a single journey. That convenience creates growth, but it can also weaken the signals consumers traditionally use to judge a seller, such as a verified address, formal returns process or independent reputation.
Trust is now part of digital infrastructure. Payment providers, platforms, merchants and regulators each control a different part of the transaction. Effective protection depends on clear responsibility, fast warnings, secure authentication and accessible dispute resolution.
Artificial intelligence can improve comparison, fraud detection and customer service, but consumers remain cautious about delegating payment authority. The gap between using AI for advice and trusting an agent to complete a purchase is commercially significant.
For merchants, the strategic lesson is that conversion cannot be separated from safety. Businesses that make identity, pricing, delivery, refunds and contact details easy to verify can build an advantage as consumers become more alert to scams.
Social commerce compresses discovery, recommendation and payment into a single journey. That convenience creates growth, but it can also weaken the signals consumers traditionally use to judge a seller, such as a verified address, formal returns process or independent reputation.
Deeper implications
The next phase of digital commerce will depend on how platforms authenticate sellers and share risk data. Payment providers can identify unusual transaction patterns, while social networks can verify account history and advertising behaviour. Combining those signals can prevent fraud more effectively than placing the burden on consumers after a loss has occurred.
Agentic commerce creates a new governance question: who is responsible when an automated tool selects the wrong product, accepts unclear terms or sends payment to a fraudulent merchant? Clear consent, transaction limits and human confirmation should be designed before autonomous checkout becomes mainstream.
Kuwait’s high adoption also offers useful data for the wider Gulf. Regulators and merchants can study which alerts change behaviour, how consumers respond to verified identities and whether dispute resolution increases repeat purchasing. Evidence-based protections can support growth without discouraging innovation.
The next phase of digital commerce will depend on how platforms authenticate sellers and share risk data. Payment providers can identify unusual transaction patterns, while social networks can verify account history and advertising behaviour. Combining those signals can prevent fraud more effectively than placing the burden on consumers after a loss has occurred.
Agentic commerce creates a new governance question: who is responsible when an automated tool selects the wrong product, accepts unclear terms or sends payment to a fraudulent merchant? Clear consent, transaction limits and human confirmation should be designed before autonomous checkout becomes mainstream.
Kuwait’s high adoption also offers useful data for the wider Gulf. Regulators and merchants can study which alerts change behaviour, how consumers respond to verified identities and whether dispute resolution increases repeat purchasing. Evidence-based protections can support growth without discouraging innovation.
The next phase of digital commerce will depend on how platforms authenticate sellers and share risk data. Payment providers can identify unusual transaction patterns, while social networks can verify account history and advertising behaviour. Combining those signals can prevent fraud more effectively than placing the burden on consumers after a loss has occurred.
