Chapter oneThe issues facing the growth and development of e-marketing in Saudi Arabia todayThere is a high growth rate of information technology (IT) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) nowadays due to the high sales of personal computers (PCs) and the improvement of the Internet sector. According to the Ministry of Trade of Saudi Arabia, e-marketing practices are not growing at the same pace as the growth of IT, which therefore requires the evaluation of the South's web practices (Al-Otaibi and Al-ZAhrani). The development of web services and the growth of the Internet are the two major contributors to the growth of e-marketing in every nation in the world. The use of the Internet is continually expanding across the world, whereby a large population is turning to the use of e-commerce both globally and locally in Saudi Arabia. With the current estimate of around 28 million citizens in the country, the IT sector has recorded a growth rate of 9.3% with e-commerce spending estimated at SR12 billion (Eid 2011). However, cultural factors such as the tradition of oral communication, which gives more weight to word-of-mouth advertising than text and images found on the web, may be a contributing factor to the success of e-marketing in the Arab region (Fandy 2000). .The KSA marketing dimension concerns the website's ability to attract more customers and present offers of goods and services in a more intelligent way. This is done through three features that include: targeting the right audience; provide customer-centric services; and collect information regarding individual customers and provide necessary services. Many people have not yet realized the need for the Internet in t...... middle of paper ......stomer Loyalty in E-commerce: An Exploration of its Antecedents and Consequences, Journal of Retailing, vol. 78,1:41-50.Sweeney, S. 2006. 101 Ways to Promote Your Website, in Benefits of Web Information for Customers. Canada: Maximum Press. P. 5Timesjobs. 2009. What are the top 3 reasons for the slow growth of the e-commerce industry? Retrieved from: http://blog.timesjobs.com/2009/04/what-are-the-top-3-reasons-for-slow-growth-of-the-e-commerce-sector-in-India/Typepad. 2011. Benefits of Internet Marketing for Customers. Retrieved from: http://mehwishworld.typepad.com/blog/2010/05/analyse-the-benefits-of-internet-marketing-to-customers-.htmlXavier, R. & Pereira, F.C. 2006. Internet Marketing and the Portuguese Market, in The Impact of E-Commerce on Consumers and Small Businesses, edited by Zappala, S. and Gray, C.England: Ashgate Publishing Limited. 123