From SAR 192 million to SAR 58.2 billion… Yamamah University students revisit three decades of data to examine one aspect of the Kingdom’s economic and social transformation.

What does celebrating National Day look like when your language is numbers?

For a group of Yamamah University students, the answer was to go back 30 years and examine what September data reveals about the changes the Kingdom has experienced in how people shop and pay.

This led to the “Thirty Septembers” report, a special edition of “Yamamah Insights” marking the 96th Saudi National Day. The report tracks point-of-sale and e-commerce data issued by the Saudi Central Bank, “SAMA,” from September 1995 through the latest data available when the report was prepared in 2026.

The idea is not simply to find out how much consumers spent, but to understand how the life behind these figures has changed.

From SAR 192 million to SAR 58.2 billion

In September 1995, the value of purchases made through point-of-sale terminals in the Kingdom amounted to approximately SAR 192 million, across around 406,000 transactions.

Thirty years later, in September 2025, point-of-sale sales had reached SAR 58.2 billion, with around 986 million transactions carried out during the month.

That means the value of point-of-sale payments had become more than 303 times its level 30 years earlier.

But the biggest number is not necessarily the most important part of the story.

The number of transactions grew much faster than their value, revealing a profound change in the use of cards and electronic payment methods.

Payment cards are no longer just for large purchases

In September 1995, the average transaction value was approximately SAR 473.

In September 2025, the average had fallen to around SAR 59.

This does not mean that prices have fallen. Rather, it reflects a shift in the types of purchases being made through electronic payment methods.

When point-of-sale terminals first became widespread, they were used more often for higher-value purchases. Today, it is commonplace to pay electronically for coffee, a meal, or small daily purchases.

This reveals something that spending value alone cannot show: the transformation was not only in how much we pay electronically, but also in how deeply electronic payments have entered the details of daily life.

Does National Day make September a peak spending month?

The answer may seem obvious: retail promotions, restaurants, events, travel, and entertainment.

But the data paints a more complex picture.

The report showed that September’s seasonality index stood at 98.8 points in 2025, meaning that spending during the month was slightly below the average for the year’s months.

Over a 20-year period, September fell below its annual average in 14 years.

At the weekly level, point-of-sale spending during National Day week in 2025 rose by approximately 3% compared with the previous week, from SAR 12.40 billion to SAR 12.77 billion.

The data thus reveals an important difference between perception and what can be measured: some activities may clearly respond to the national occasion, but September as a whole is not necessarily the highest-spending month of the year.

Food leads the way

When we look more closely at National Day week, the details of daily life begin to emerge.

Between September 21 and 27, 2025, point-of-sale sales in the food and beverages sector amounted to approximately SAR 1.85 billion, followed by restaurants and cafés at around SAR 1.59 billion.

But the number of transactions tells another story.

Restaurants and cafés recorded approximately 54.8 million transactions, compared with 49.5 million transactions for food and beverages, while the average restaurant and café transaction was approximately SAR 29.

Once again, the figure tells us not only where the money went; it also reveals how consumers’ daily activity is distributed.

One riyal in every three through e-commerce

Perhaps the clearest transformation in recent years has been the rise of e-commerce.

In September 2019, e-commerce through Mada cards amounted to approximately SAR 1.17 billion.

In September 2025, it reached SAR 29.1 billion.

According to the scope of measurement used in the report, e-commerce accounted for approximately 33.3% of total spending through point-of-sale and e-commerce transactions made with Mada cards.

In July 2026, the latest month available when the report was prepared, e-commerce sales through Mada amounted to approximately SAR 37.6 billion.

The issue, then, is bigger than the growth of an online store or a new app; it is a change in the channel through which the daily relationship between consumers and the market takes place.

Thirty years… and what has really changed?

It is easy to read the move from SAR 192 million to SAR 58.2 billion as simply a massive increase in spending.

But that is not the conclusion the report reaches.

The increase reflects a combination of interrelated factors: population growth, changes in prices and incomes, the expansion of the point-of-sale network, the shift from cash to electronic payments, the spread of mobile phones and digital wallets, and then the rapid growth of e-commerce.

Therefore, the figures do not tell us that consumers now spend 303 times what they spent 30 years ago.

They tell us, more clearly, that the way we pay has changed radically.

That is the essence of “Thirty Septembers.”

Rather than making the national occasion solely a time to look back, Yamamah University students sought to read one aspect of the Kingdom’s journey through data from its daily life: What do we buy? How do we pay? And how has that changed over three decades?

Celebrating through the language of expertise

The report was prepared by a team of Yamamah University students: Albatool Bedairi @Albatool Bedairi, Mohammed Almudbil @Mohammed Almudbil, and Abeer Altuwaijri @Abeer Altuwaijri, under the supervision of financial and economic analyst Hamad Alsaeed @Hamad Alsaeed.

The work was produced as part of “Yamamah Insights” as an experience combining academic learning, practical application, and data journalism, transforming official figures from statistical tables into questions and stories that readers can connect to their own lives.

On the 96th Saudi National Day, this was their way of celebrating:

Reading the nation’s journey through its numbers.

Read the full report: “Thirty Septembers — How Consumer Spending Changed During the Month of the Nation”

Thirty Septembers — How Saudi Spending Changed During the Month of the Nation

Thirty_Septembers_Saudi_National_Day_96_Yamamah_Insights
Primary data source: The Saudi Central Bank, “SAMA.” The calculations and analyses in the report were prepared by the Yamamah Insights team.