DOHA: Qatar’s national postal service, Qatar Post, jumped on the bandwagon of the increasingly popular “internationally bought, locally delivered” online shopping trend by launching its e-commerce service “Connected” on Monday.
The service, which was launched at the Arab Cities Summit 2016, is said to be part of the Qatar Vision 2030 and was termed “a product of e-shoppers’ feedback” by Faleh Al Naemi, the chairman and managing director of Qatar Post. The national postal service also hinted at its plans for launching drone delivery in the country towards the end of the year.
It will offer users several options for the delivery of their online shopping from the US or UK (and other European retailers that deliver to the UK), including home delivery, smart lockers and collection from 30 Q-Post branches across the country.
The service will assign UK or US shipping addresses, which will essentially be Q-Post warehouses, to each user for their e-shopping needs and will then offer them the option of either shipping their parcels right away or waiting up to 21 days for consolidating several parcels into one package.
According to Q-Post, parcel-tracking services will also be available and estimated delivery period will be between five to eight working days. Lifetime membership fee for the service will be 99 riyals (Dh99.7) (free for signing up before May 6). Shipping fees are broken down into for base charges, (129.60 riyals for US, 133.25 riyals for UK) and charges per 100g (4.60 riyals for US, 2.90 riyals for UK).
While such facilities are not new to Qatar, residents have shown an increasing displeasure over the quality of service provided by several other companies. Customer reviews and opinions reveal long delays, damage to goods and unexpected customs charges as some of the problems they face while using such services.
