Majid Al Futtaim and Visa Launch White Paper on Engineering Trust into the Future of Digital Commerce

• 80 per cent of payments in the UAE are now made digitally, reflecting the rapid shift towards seamless and mobile-first retail experiences
• 67 per cent of UAE consumers used their mobile phone in their most recent retail purchase, while 37 per cent complete online shopping directly on mobile devices, the highest rate globally
• Visa has invested US$3.3 billion in artificial intelligence and data capabilities over the past decade for fraud prevention.
• Within Majid Al Futtaim’s SHARE ecosystem, AI‑led personalisation has increased personalised offer click‑through rates by 23 per cent.
  

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 30 April 2026: Majid Al Futtaim, a leading shopping mall, communities, retail, and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, today announced the release of its new white paper in collaboration with Visa, Building the Trusted Digital Economy of Retail – How seamless journeys and trusted infrastructure enable growth at scale. The white paper sets out a strategic blueprint for retailers and payments leaders seeking to scale innovation while strengthening customer confidence across physical and digital environments.

The report explores how the region’s uniquely digital consumer base and destination-led retail environment are reshaping expectations around convenience, personalisation, and security. With 80 percent of payments in the UAE now made digitally and consumers moving fluidly between physical and digital channels, the study argues that retailers must now design experiences that are not only seamless but consistently reliable across every touchpoint.

At the centre of the report is the “Trust Loop”, a customer-facing framework that explains how retailers can embed trust across the entire shopping journey. The model spans three critical stages: relevance, authorisation, and resolution. Trust is strengthened when personalisation is responsible and useful, payments are frictionless and secure, and recovery processes such as refunds or dispute handling are transparent and dependable.

The importance of this trust-based approach is reflected in how consumers now shop and evaluate brands in digital environments. According to the report, 67 percent of consumers in the UAE used their mobile phones as part of their most recent retail purchase, while 37 percent complete online shopping directly on mobile devices, the highest rate globally. At the same time, expectations are unforgiving. Nine out of ten shoppers say they would abandon even their favourite brands after a single poor experience.

The white paper outlines that the next stage of e-commerce growth will be driven not simply by new technologies, but by the ability to embed trust consistently across the entire customer journey.

Darren Taylor, Senior Vice President, SHARE Rewards & Customer Solutions at Majid Al Futtaim, said: “As AI reshapes every part of the customer journey, trust has become the defining differentiator in modern retail. Technology can personalise, predict, and automate at unprecedented scale, but none of that matters if customers don’t feel secure, understood, and in control. At Majid Al Futtaim, we see trust as the starting point for every relationship we build with our customers, and it is at the core of every experience we design. When retailers embed trust into every decision, every interaction, and every innovation, they don’t just improve experiences; they earn loyalty that lasts. In a fast‑moving, AI‑enabled world, trust is ultimately what turns great technology into meaningful customer value."

Devendar Agarwal, Visa's CEMEA Head of Global Clients, Tech Partners and Merchant Business & GCC Acceptance, added: “Markets like the UAE are defining what the future of retail looks like, with digital payments now the norm and mobile firmly at the center of the shopping journey. By combining Visa’s global trusted, AI-driven payments infrastructure with Majid Al Futtaim’s retail ecosystem and consumer insight, we are helping shape a retail environment where innovation can scale securely and seamlessly while earning consumer trust.”

To support this trust-driven model, the white paper outlines five foundational capabilities required for a scalable retail ecosystem: digital identity, secure credentials, consent-driven data sharing, interoperability between platforms and clear recourse mechanisms for customers. Together, these capabilities enable retailers to deliver the seamless and dependable experiences that support the Trust Loop.

The study also highlights the growing importance of collaboration between retailers and payment networks to deliver these capabilities. Majid Al Futtaim contributes ecosystem-wide consumer insight across physical and digital retail destinations, while Visa provides the secure payment infrastructure that enables reliable authorisation and fraud protection across markets. Over the past decade, Visa has invested more than $3.3 billion in artificial intelligence and data capabilities.

Within Majid Al Futtaim’s own ecosystem, this approach is already delivering measurable impact. AI-driven personalisation within the SHARE loyalty platform has resulted in a 23 percent increase in click-through rates for personalised offers, while Visa consumer research in the UAE shows that 82 percent of consumers would shop online more often if checkout were one-click, and two-thirds would use biometric authentication if available.

By aligning trusted infrastructure with experience-led retail environments, the UAE and the Gulf region are well placed to shape the next chapter of the global digital retail economy.

To read the full report, click here.