Dubai

JadoPado, an e-commerce retailer in the UAE, is planning to raise $20 million by selling between 25-30 per cent stake in the company.

“We are looking for around two to three investors. It is a bit early for an IPO. We are having conversations with e-commerce and investment groups at the moment,” Omar Kassim, founder of JadoPado, told Gulf News.

He said fund raising for technology businesses is still challenging, because people are still used to regular sectors like property, etc.

“The e-commerce sector in the UAE, which is growing very fast, is expected to increase more than 17 per cent this year to $330.1 million compared to $281.6 million,” said Euromonitor International.

Kassim said that even though e-commerce is growing very fast in the UAE, the actual physical goods movement in the country is less than one per cent of the total e-commerce. People don’t like to wait for the products. With the good infrastructure in the UAE it is possible. But it is not the same in other Gulf countries.

“We are expecting to touch around Dh40 million revenues this year compared to Dh15.78 million in the last fiscal year. Our year-on-year revenues soared 208 per cent last year,” he said.

The company has boosted its marketing spend last year by 428 per cent compared to 2011.

“We are planning to go global and as part of that warehousing and logistics are expected to be the key areas of investment for us this year. We are investing in a new 10,000 square feet warehouse in Dubai Maritime City,” Kassim said.

The company has expanded operations and delivery services to reach the entire GCC region in addition to Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka in March.

“Our unique proposition of offering consumers an instant gratification e-commerce experience coupled with awesome customer service and speedy delivery has been instrumental to our success since launching in March 2011,” Kassim said.

The company experienced an impressive 273 per cent increase in site visitors in 2012, totalling 1.2 million visits for 2012.

According to Euromonitor International, the total consumer expenditure in the UAE is expected to grow by 5.69 per cent to $187.22 billion this year compared to $177.13 billion in 2012.

“We believe that consumers in our new international markets are equally ready for an alternative to traditional retail outlets when shopping for exclusive products, better prices and higher levels of customer service,” Kassim said.