Last week at the ‘Festival of Media MENA‘ the Ecommerce panel discussed how things are changing and the increasing opportunity for merchants, marketplaces, media and technology providers in the region.
The panel featured Christian Andersen, Director, Portfolio Marketing, Middle East & Africa for IBM, Marketing Director for Souq.com, and YAS Marina Circuit. Here is an overview of some of the comments.
It is well known that the Middle East is capturing a fraction of Ecommerce potential, with less than 2% of retail going through the online channel compared with 7% to 10% in other parts of the world, but the Middle East is growing fast and mobile is where it is at.
Souq
You cant treat this market the same way you treat other markets. Mobile is key. 70% of GMV from Mobile App.
IBM
Even if growth happens as predicted it will only be 10% of the sales… However, people who buy online and offline buy 3 times as much as a single channel.
YAS Marina
Where we have digitised our operations, it has unlocked significant revenue and transformed our retail business.
Souq
9 months of work went into the Amazon deal. The agreement will be a catalyst for the region in a number of ways. For Entrepreneurs, it helps validate the market as a place for Ecommerce. It should also give confidence in the region to merchants and investors – both foreign and local.
Key Concepts for Ecommerce in the UAE and Middle East
IBM
There are new models emerging. The old concepts of B2B Ecommerce and B2C are being replaced by Customer to Business (C2B). The job of the merchant is to create moments of serendipity and the winners will be the retailer who customise their experience and their products. While many retailers are capturing information such as likes and sales, they may not be capturing unstructured data, which increasingly will be key for Ecommerce. AI systems will become increasingly more valuable to ecommerce. The definition of an AI from IBM’s point of view is one that learns, understands unstructured data, reasons and can interact in natural language.
YAS Island
Ecommerce is a source of data. We speak to a Lewis Hamilton fan differently to a Ferrari fan. However there are limitations caused by other processes. An F1 customer can choose an area, but not a specific seat. They have to call the customer service center. As much as possible a single customer view is trying to be created, but legacy systems prevent it.
Souq
The secret of success is relevance of messaging. The company has turned off mass communication and instead now favours more personalised messaging. The company used data to identify parents of diaper aged children. A ‘countdown’ calculation understands when customers might be running out and want to replenish. This then feeds into what come next – buying new clothes in a larger size for example. It’s about the lifetime value of the customer.
YAS Island
Agree that personalisation is important to suceess. It’s about the product and the ability to customise that product. Don’t make assumptions about the customer, use data to make sure you are being relevant.
Final Words of Advice
IBM
Ecommerce journey needs to start now. Make sure your partners can unlock the power of Data.
Souq
Invest in the behaviour shift. Souq has invested in Instashop and has seen big changes in the way people shop for groceries. The focus should be on creating cool products and services and looking after the customer.
No Comments