The COVID-19 pandemic has shuttered innumerable brick-and-mortar stores across the globe, propelling them to make an immediate shift to the digital space. While eCommerce is spreading its roots to every nook and corner of countries, popular reports suggest that the Middle Eastern region has been identified as one of the fastest-growing eCommerce markets in the world. Albeit, the United States and European markets continue to hold the status of eCommerce hubs, the Middle Eastern region is speeding up to join the league sooner or later.
eCommerce in the Middle East market is expected to reach 69 billion dollars by the end of 2020. In just a few years, it is expected to double in size. Experts have stated four major reasons to explain this exponential growth:
- The size of the youth population in the Middle East is one of the largest in the world. These youngsters are highly engaged with smartphones and are responsible for driving online sales.
- This region records one of the highest internet penetration rates worldwide.
- More than 29 percent of the Middle Eastern population buys online every month.
- In addition, the Middle East has one of the world’s highest social media penetration rates.
To exploit the extensive potential of the Middle Eastern eCommerce market, you need a foolproof plan with proper execution. Allow us to walk you through the journey.
Market Research
Before you invest your valuable time and hard-earned money in any online business in the Middle East, it is extremely important to conduct thorough research into the market, industries, sectors, and businesses that are:
- Growing rapidly in the region
- Expected to grow in the near future
- Likely to generate profitable opportunities
- Areas where you have a competitive advantage
Choose the Right Jurisdiction and Get a Trade License
Whether to choose a Free Zone or a Mainland authority depends on the nature of your eCommerce business. A Free Zone license allows you to work with a local distributor, while a Mainland license provides you with the liberty to trade or sell products and services directly to the local market. Before you finalize one, understand which license will benefit your business more in terms of scalability and outreach.
Select the eCommerce Platform
Magento is a flexible eCommerce platform for businesses targeting the Middle East region. It enables you to seamlessly integrate with various third-party applications such as ERP, CRM, and POS systems. Having Magento connected to your ERP, CRM, and POS allows you to keep track of inventory, sales, and customers within one connected ecosystem. This eliminates the need to manage each piece of software individually or worry about missing information across applications.
Build a State-of-the-Art eCommerce Store
While you have the option of selling through marketplaces like Noon.com and Souq.com, creating your own online store has two major benefits – stronger branding and greater control over your profits. In addition, if your business becomes successful, your e-store could eventually evolve into a marketplace itself.
Developing a futuristic eCommerce store is one of the most significant aspects of setting up an eCommerce business in the Middle East. Your website should be professional, user-friendly, SEO-friendly, mobile-friendly, and visually appealing. It should operate seamlessly, use secure hosting, and integrate with effective solutions to support business growth.
Since you will be dealing with Middle Eastern customers, your online store should be bilingual, offering both Arabic and English language options. What’s more, having a country-specific domain name can give you an upper hand.
For achieving this, you need an experienced eCommerce solutions provider to build your web store from scratch. i95Dev empowers you with unique eCommerce setup and implementations on Magento, backed by deep domain expertise, strong partnerships, and versatile integration offerings to suit your business requirements.
If you do not want to waste any more time and want to take your business into the digital space right away, you have landed in the right place. i95Dev helps you reach your customers quickly with a fully functional eCommerce store within 8 weeks.
Efficient Payment Gateway System
The world is changing, and not everyone prefers cash on delivery (COD). To run an online business successfully, you ought to provide your customers with integrated, secure payment gateways, including credit and debit card payment options.
There are numerous online payment gateway vendors available on the market. The more technically sound and stable the payment gateway, the greater the volume of online traffic it can handle and the higher the success rate of business transactions on your eCommerce website. Popular payment processors in the Middle East region include PayFort, PayTabs, Checkout.com, Telr, and HyperPay.
Logistics, Delivery System, and Shipping
In the absence of an appropriate logistics strategy, any eCommerce business is bound to face challenges. Therefore, establishing a robust logistics system to ensure efficient product delivery is essential.
In the Middle East, you can either partner with a third-party logistics provider or build your own logistics operation. Whether to outsource logistics or manage it in-house depends entirely on your business model and available resources.
Shipping is the backbone of any eCommerce business. To get your products delivered smoothly, you need to partner with reliable shipping carriers. In the Middle East, Aramex, DHL, and SMSA Express are shipping carriers with a strong foothold.
Marketing and Customer Acquisition
After launching your online business in the Middle Eastern market, nothing can take it forward without a thoughtful marketing strategy. Creating an effective marketing plan will help you position your products and services in the right space and tap into the right target customers. In this way, you can acquire loyal customers in the initial phases and give your eCommerce business a strong start!
