Majid Al Futtaim launches UAE Internet shopping revolution
Posted on 07 September 2010 with 2 comments from readers
The biggest name in Middle East retailing, Majid al Futtaim, hit a knock-out blow in regional online shopping with the launch of the Carrefour online store in the UAE this week. Within the next year or two expect every major store to go online in a regional e-shopping revolution.
The same man who brought the indoor ski slope to Dubai is just the right pioneer to put UAE retailing online. It has become a national embarassment. Just about everywhere else in the world you can buy anything online but not in the UAE.
Hypermarket online
Majid Al Futtaim has put the Carrefour hypermarket online with a massive website www.ic4uae.com for 3,000 items with everything except food, still judged too difficult in a hot climate. You can buy cameras, mobiles, printers, gaming products, TV’s, home appliances, garden furniture, homeware, and some cosmetic items.
Free delivery by courier is offered for orders above AED1,000 and it is just AED12 for purchases under this amount. This is really competitive and hardly makes it worth visiting the store in your car.
Internet shopping was first tried in the UAE 10 years ago but suffered from credit card fraud, delivery problems and customs issues within the GCC. Local courier services are vastly improved and credit card security, although cross border trading is still difficult within the region.
Low-cost retailing
The cost of setting up Internet shopping websites has also fallen dramatically. It is far cheaper to operate a shop online and deliver from a warehouse than to staff and rent retail units. This leaves scope for online discounting and greater competition with the retail market.
Perhaps this initiative from Majid Al Futtaim is also a clever response to how to expand in a recession. Internet shopping is a low-cost approach and builds off an existing brand name and store infrastructure.
Why is everybody not doing it? No doubt this will be a case of follow the leader and this is not the first time that Majid Al Futtaim has got things right. He was the first regional shopping mall developer, and will probably now go on to make another fortune with his digital properties.
2 Comments posted by readers:
Why is not everybody doing it? Too small a target market. And the “what is your location..?” calls from Aramex I see them coming. Good luck.
Ed Note: UAE is not too small to be the retail hub of the Middle East. Online shopping is no big deal. It is cheaper to set up than a branch of a shop – so long as the stuff then sells successfully why not do it?
Aramex is the best carrier in the gulf,, but the price is high,, there are no names for streets,, no easy way to deliver,,
ohhh and e-commerce!! yeah right,, how do you pay, when there is no trust,, when there are no sites like ebay or other auction sites,, you say souq.com!! it has less than 100,000 items,, u call that a site… People there still dont know how to use the internet… most people i know use facebook, the reason is that it was out like a boom in the middle age people… they are like sheep,, and travel as whole… i.e. blackberry.. iphone.. high tech gadgets..
they buy them and only use 1% of what they can offer…
so why buy them in the first place and spend 1,000s prestige,,, ill tell you why: cuz their friends have it,, you call that a mentality…which you can break in with new ideas?? GOOD LUCK..