Four Ecommerce Start Up Success Stories from Middle-East Mirroring India

Middle East has never been an easy ground to take on for eCommerce. Not only for the extremely isolationist existence but also the reluctance of people to shop online is one of the factor. Even Amazon hasn’t in the entered the market directly but instead chose to do it via proxy. But that’s not to say the market isn’t lucrative. It is in fact a potential consumer base of 350 million with a majority of them near 25 years of age. And that has been motivation enough for a few brave start-ups to begin in this market, below are those start ups who tackled those odds and emerged successful.

1)Souq

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It has beginnings as an online auctioneering portal in 2005. It entered the full fledged ecommerce market in 2011. It’s tremendous growth has led people to label it as the ‘Amazon of East’. And it isn’t for no reason, Souq has targeted every challenge with unmitigated aggressive and a strategy having a surgeon’s precision. It has its website absolutely optimized for the best mobile experience because that’s how middle-east prefers to browse. The lack of a good payment gateway was countered by buying Payfort which has technology for secure online transactions. The logistics issue was handled by introducing fulfilled by Souq, similar to ‘Amazon’s fulfilled by’. It has built more warehouses to prevent quick stock exhaustion and also facilitate swift deliveries.

2) Namshi.com

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It’s barely 4 years old but Namshi undisputedly dominates the fashion and lifestyle sphere of middle east. The biggest reason behind this is that it’s a local (Arabic) start up and hence understands the market, its needs and demands and adapts accordingly.

The population of middle is very fashionable. They have very high penchant for outstanding fashion apparels. Knowing this full well Namshi makes sure that it is updated to the latest trends in the Fashion market. They offer everything from celebrity labels like Ivy Park from Beyonce to every international high street fashion brand.

-Namshi realizes the mistrust the middle-east population has for online shopping and outings in mall is one of their favorite time killers, to counter this it offers a 14 day return guarantee and Cash on delivery for orders.

To tackle the issue of fake subscribers Namshi is very actively involved in scrubbing its content and working on digital marketing as well its brand awareness.

3) MarkaVIP.com

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One thing that the middle east is famous for splurging on is luxuries. It is virtually an explored market in ecommerce terms, and that opportunity has been grabbed by the Amman, Jordan, based MarkaVIP. Luxury has to make one feel special and MarkaVIP knows that, therefore not anyone can use their website fulfill their luxury shopping cravings. It is strictly an invitation only luxury lifestyle and fashion shopping spot. 

Launched in 2010, today MarkaVIP has over 3 million premium and exclusive memberships from 8 middle-eastern countries. Also, occasionally MarkaVIP holds flash sale, selling luxury items for extremely discounted rates. is an invitation-only luxury fashion and lifestyle shopping destination. MarkaVIP’s ingenious strategy of tackling the region’s high demand for luxury fashion and lifestyle labels by focusing on ‘members only’ maintaining exclusivity and also holding flash sales every now and then to cash on the impulse shopping of customers.

It has built itself a reputation the luxury goods market so much so that some brands make their debut on MarkaVIP website before anywhere else in the region. It has also built hubs for distribution in every local market so as to make shopping for its customer as convenient as possible.

4) Mumzworld.com

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One of the most unique startups in the region Mumzworld has been receiving funding for its loyal consumer base, bright future prospects and exponential growth. The unique characteristic of this ecommerce firm is that focuses solely on the needs of mothers, would be mothers, children and babies.

First launched in 2011, it enjoys a loyalty rate of a whopping 45%! Those 45% of consumers return to shop from its website up to 5 to 6 times a year.

– the idea originated when Mumzworld saw that the offline market had no one stop solution for mothers or expecting mothers that offered quality products and services. They decided to build an online marketplace that eliminated this gap and offered international brands with world class products. 

–It has an SKU ratio far greater than any physical store in the region or sector, which is a big enough incentive for people to visit the website.

 Their success is attributed to their overwhelmingly high loyalty rate. Mumzworld has been able to achieve that by going the extra mile to make their customers feel special and comforted. It even offers its consumers a customized gift registry.

Conclusion

Middle East is a difficult turf there is no denying that, but these startups took on that challenge and delivered. All of them joined by a common link, use of a multivendor marketplace for grocery to offer their customer the most diverse catalogue of product possible. These sites found strength in the very challenges they faced and strategically targeted the hurdles to succeed as a business, and thus have opened up middle-east to other ecommerce big wigs of the world.