Dubai: Jumbo Electronics has invested $1 million on its new online shopping portal which will unify online and physical retail stores.
Jumbo is the last retailer to go online in the UAE but Vishesh Bhatia, CEO at Jumbo Group, said: “We have the advantage of technology and many value-added features”.
Jumbo had tied up with online mall Tejuri as an experiment. The portal will go live on Wednesday.
“We have the technology from RBBi [user experience design and user interface agency], MENA360 [logistics company] and Google to offer a comprehensive experience. Our online store also addresses the challenges faced by shoppers — such as difficulty in processing returns or lack of access to customer support and human interaction,” he said.
“We look at online as another store. We expect online to contribute around seven per cent additional to our total sales in two years,” he said.
According to PayPal, the Middle East eCommerce market is expected to be valued at about $15 billion by 2015.
According to statistics, the eCommerce penetration rate in Mena is low at 31.3 per cent compared to 40.4 per cent global rate. Out of the 80 per cent internet users in the UAE, only 15 per cent purchase online. The eCommerce is growing 20 per cent annually.
Nadeem Khanzadah, head of omnichannel retail at Jumbo Group, said that it look us some time for the unified approach because for the integration of businesses. The online business is totally different from the physical retail business for the key retailers in the UAE.
“It takes a lot of effort to integrate. If consumers buy a product online from our competitors today and take that product to the physical store, it [product] does not get recognised. They [competitors] will give you a number to contact online. Our approach is ‘buy anywhere go anywhere’ and as per users convenience,” he said.
“Our aim is to make our brick-and-mortar and online services equally accessible to the customer. By integrating the delivery and collection process, we ensure that the two platforms work together and not as separate entities,” he said.
Jumbo is partnering with Google to implement search-engine optimisation, retargeting search campaigns, and to enhance display marketing and inventory management, and with PayPal and Payfort to offer easy and convenient payment options.
Does going online restrict Jumbo from opening new stores, Bhatia said “no”. “We are opening two stores at Yas Mall and one at Mall of the World. With the high real estate prices and online presence, we don’t need to have 10,000 square feet shops now. 2,000 square feet is sufficient now,” he said.
The online portal is a website now and the Jumbo app will be available in 30 days.
Bhatia said the advantage of online is the data of consumers and that is the magic.
“We will get consumers behaviour, purchasing behaviour and what brands they prefer. We will never sell or share the data to any third parties but we will use it for our own purpose and we will definitely make use of it,” he said.
