Ronaldo Mouchawar, the co-founder and chief executive of Souq.com has said that “for now, Souq will continue to operate its current websites as is” following the completion of the US$650 million (Dh2.39bn) acquisition by Amazon.com this week.
The deal, announced in March, has been formally concluded with work on integration under way, the two companies said. Customers are now able to log into Souq using their Amazon account details.
Mr Mouchawar described this as “a milestone for the online shopping space in the region” as it made its offering much more accessible, adding that the company would now be “moving into the next phase of the integration to bring more products and offerings to the region’s customers”.
Currently, Souq offers more than 8.4 million products across 31 categories, but Amazon offers 480 million products worldwide.
“It is an exhilarating time for the e-commerce industry in the region. Integration of Amazon’s technology and global resources with our local expertise will help us to offer a great service to our loyal customers,” Mr Mouchawar said.
Amazon.com’s senior vice-president for its international consumer business, Russ Grandinetti, said: “We are working to quickly integrate Souq and Amazon capabilities, in terms of both customer experience and fulfilment, to provide an ever-improving shopping experience for customers in the Middle East.”
Souq is the region’s biggest online marketplace, and it currently attracts 45 million visits per month, with localised operations in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Just before Amazon and Souq announced their tie-up in March, a last-minute, $800m bid for Souq was submitted by Emaar Malls, the shopping mall division of Emaar Properties, which subsequently bought a 51 per cent stake in online fashion retailer Namshi for $151m.
Mr Mouchawar said that the tie-up between Souq and Amazon was "guided by many of the same principles as Amazon" and that the deal provided a critical step in growing its customer base.
Mohamed Alabbar, the Emaar Properties’chairman, is also heading the launch of noon.com – a $1bn e-commerce start-up which has received about $500m in funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. This was initially due to be launched in January, but has yet to commence operations. It recently bought out competitor Jadopado.com for an undisclosed sum.
David McAdam, the chief executive of the Middle East Council of Shopping Centres, said that e-commerce penetration rates in the region remain "very low", owing partly to a hesitancy in the region for sharing credit card information online, as well as the fact that "last mile" delivery is more problematic in Middle East markets.
“This last mile delivery is such a headache for so many different businesses. Amazon still loses money on its last mile delivery [in the US]. How are they going to do that here? There’s a long way to go before it’s really smooth.”
However, he said that despite such problems, a continued growth in e-commerce sale in the region is inevitable.
“Of course it will come – it’s just a matter of when,” said Mr McAdam.
“I think the other thing that is important to know is that one of the ways in which Amazon grows is to gather more products online. I think that some of the franchise owners here of brands will probably join in the Amazon movement and pay a fee to Amazon to list their products online as long as the pricing that they agree to enables them to carry on in the stores as well as in the online market. It will happen, but it’s going to take time for everyone to embrace these changes.”
Mr Mouchawar said that it was continuing its efforts to promote consumer confidence in the region's e-commerce. "We recently collaborated with Dubai Economy for co-operation on the 'Digital Protection' initiative for consumer rights. This makes Souq the first certified e-commerce website to display the consumer protection logo of Dubai Economy," he added.
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Fixtures
Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
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BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
Company%20Profile
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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
The results of the first round are as follows:
Qais Saied (Independent): 18.4 per cent
Nabil Karoui (Qalb Tounes): 15.58 per cent
Abdelfattah Mourou (Ennahdha party): 12.88 per cent
Abdelkarim Zbidi (two-time defence minister backed by Nidaa Tounes party): 10.7 per cent
Youssef Chahed (former prime minister, leader of Long Live Tunisia): 7.3 per cent
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Company%20profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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RESULTS
Women:
55kg brown-black belt: Amal Amjahid (BEL) bt Amanda Monteiro (BRA) via choke
62kg brown-black belt: Bianca Basilio (BRA) bt Ffion Davies (GBR) via referee’s decision (0-0, 2-2 adv)
70kg brown-black belt: Ana Carolina Vieira (BRA) bt Jessica Swanson (USA), 9-0
90kg brown-black belt: Angelica Galvao (USA) bt Marta Szarecka (POL) 8-2
Men:
62kg black belt: Joao Miyao (BRA) bt Wan Ki-chae (KOR), 7-2
69kg black belt: Paulo Miyao (BRA) bt Gianni Grippo (USA), 2-2 (1-0 adv)
77kg black belt: Espen Mathiesen (NOR) bt Jake Mackenzie (CAN)
85kg black belt: Isaque Braz (BRA) bt Faisal Al Ketbi (UAE), 2-0
94kg black belt: Felipe Pena (BRA) bt Adam Wardzinski (POL), 4-0
110kg black belt final: Erberth Santos (BRA) bt Lucio Rodrigues (GBR) via rear naked choke
The%20specs
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Six things you need to know about UAE Women’s Special Olympics football team
Several girls started playing football at age four
They describe sport as their passion
The girls don’t dwell on their condition
They just say they may need to work a little harder than others
When not in training, they play football with their brothers and sisters
The girls want to inspire others to join the UAE Special Olympics teams
Ashes 2019 schedule
August 1-5: First Test, Edgbaston
August 14-18: Second Test, Lord's
August 22-26: Third Test, Headingley
September 4-8: Fourth Test, Old Trafford
September 12-16: Fifth Test, Oval
Company%20Profile
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