OLX Lebanon Monitors Users’ Trends and Behavior during the Holy Month of Ramadan 2017

Beirut, Lebanon, July 17, 2017: OLX, the leading classifieds platform in Lebanon, has released a first-of-its-kind report that analyzes users’ behavioral patterns on its platforms throughout the holy month of Ramadan. With the massive extent of information and data available, OLX Lebanon studies the user’s behavior, distinguishes their preferences, and get to know their platform visit peak hours compared to last Ramadan 2016. Through this report, OLX aims to edify companies and people working in the technology and Internet sector about the impact of the holy month on users’ behavior.

The month of Ramadan this year befell from May 26 to June 24, 2017. During this period, OLX Lebanon recorded approximately 800,000 users on its platform, a 156% increase compared to the month of Ramadan 2016 (6 June to 5 July); each user spent an average of 11 minutes in each visit browsing the various sections of the platform (property, cars, used items, jobs and services). Additionally, OLX recorded around 6 million visits to its platform, in other words, during the month of Ramadan, the Lebanese spent 66 million minutes on OLX.

Commenting on the results of the report, Mr. Abdallah Touqan, Director of Public Relations and Communications at OLX MENA said: “Many companies consider Ramadan to be one of the most important and sensitive months in terms of influencing users’ trends and behavior in Lebanon, In terms of fasting, the month of Ramadan reflects a new pattern that may help companies focus on updating or adjusting their activities to suit the needs of users during this month. Based on this, OLX Lebanon has studied the behavior of a large user base during this month and we have concluded that the cars section has attracted the largest number of visits, followed by the used-items section and then property and finally jobs.”

Therefore, the results showed that the peak period of visits during the month of Ramadan for this year was at 1 pm, and the lowest period is at the time of Iftar at approximately 8 pm. It showed also that visits were going up during the evening hours to fall again after 2 am. The use hours of OLX platform during the month of Ramadan this year, was very similar to the results of the past year, reflecting a certain pattern that users are accustomed to during the holy month of Ramadan.

In the Middle East and North Africa, the latest research and statistics done by Facebook showed a significant increase in mobile usage during the holy month of Ramadan, with more than 70% of the population in the Middle East having a smart phone and relying heavily on it during the season for entertainment and shopping and other applications related to Ramadan*

In March 2017, the share of OLX mobile users in Lebanon reached 90%, making it the most popular channel, which means that 9 out of every 10 people use OLX Lebanon platform via mobile. More than 240,000 messages were exchanged through the Chat feature, and the peak hour for chat was at 1 pm during Ramadan.

On Eid al-Fitr day (June 25), visits to OLX Lebanon decreased by 14% compared to a normal day of the month. Undoubtedly, Eid is dedicated to spending time with loved ones, and people avoid any distractions that prevent them from spending time with family and friends.

In December 2016, OLX Arabia was rated #1 shopping app in Lebanon in App Store and Google Play. As for its overall app ranking, OLX Arabia comes among the top 10 apps In Lebanon in both App Store and Google Play.

*https://bit.ly/2tJbbnv