Dubai: E-selling in the Gulf is no longer the sole domain of a start-up portal — even 100-year plus multinationals are getting into this space. The company behind the legendary Post-It notes, 3M has launched a dedicated e-commerce operations targeted at retail consumers.
The ‘Shop3M Gulf’ portal can be accessed by buyers in the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. (Similar online services have already been introduced at 3M’s Europe and Asia operations, through direct selling or via third-parties.) The portfolio available on www.3mgulf.com/shop3m will extend to office-related merchandise, personal care and cleaning products, adhesives and electricals.
“Initially, we have started with a consumer-friendly portfolio; the learning from other 3M subsidiaries shows that in order to maximize e-commerce operations, it is necessary to get the B2B portfolios online and make it easier for our customers,” said Naveed Ahmad, area leader for sales and marketing, Middle East and Africa at 3M. “This is something we will work towards in the coming months.
“This is a first-of-its-kind for us in this region, we do not have historical information, particularly with the type of products we sell to set accurate online entitlements. This is a learning and testing phase for us and we will continue to evaluate our approach as we proceed.
“We have been following e-commerce trends in this region, analysing the current and expected growth. In essence, we are working towards making it easier for the customer to do business with 3M.”
For the transactions and delivery involved with selling online, 3M has brought on board PayPal, the payment services company and subsidiary of eBay, and Aramex, the logistics heavyweight.
“The payment processing part of Shop3M Gulf required a lot of consideration,” said Ahmad. “We have many requirements that our payment processing solution needs to offer, including PCI (payment card industry) data security compliance for protecting customer’s financial information.
“PayPal is currently our sole payment processing solution, so PayPal have opened the guest account option enabling customers to pay without setting up a PayPal account. We will consider adding more payment processing solutions if we receive this feedback from customers.”
As for the delivery schedule on orders, “As we may also ship to other countries, delivery times may vary based on customs and clearance requirements in the surrounding countries,” Ahmad added.
Before the formal rollout, an extensive pilot programme was on involving the company’s own employees. That was done with an eye on testing the processes and the likely user experiences. Following this, it was then launched to a “closed group of customers” for their feedback and thereafter opened up to 3M’s social media followers.
As of now, the 3M portal will sell direct, in that it will not involve channel partners. “Our objective is to build our expertise and leverage the growing e-commerce trends in the region while also working alongside with our channel partners to buy online from 3M. In fact, we will bring this knowledge to our channel partners to strengthen their online offering.”
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