Dubai: The Al Tayer Group is going live with an ecommerce portal for luxury fashion, jewellery and home accessories on December 15, and leveraging the alliances it has built up selling upscale through its brick-and-mortar operations.
Ounass — coming under Al Tayer Insignia — will have the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar as the launch markets and intends to extend coverage to the rest of the Gulf territory at the earliest, according to a top official.
The multi-brand portal will offer a highly curated merchandise, with labels such as Gucci, Stella McCartney, Bottega Veneta and Alexander McQueen among them. Apart from the well-established, the portal will also showcase apparel from names that are on the cusp of going big and wide, such as Ellery and Sacai. (Some of the curated brands will present “exclusive capsule collections or items at launch”.)
And the portal’s promoter is offering a major competitive push with its delivery — within two hours of an order being placed within Dubai, same-day delivery for anywhere in the UAE and 48 hours for orders placed outside of the UAE. (To ensure the delivery commitments, the Group is directly involved in overseeing some of the logistics needs. It also has roped in partners for the launch phase.)
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Khalid Al Tayer |
“There’s a lot of headroom available for growth in online retail — currently this is only 1-2 per cent of the overall retail,” said Khalid Al Tayer, CEO of Al Tayer Insignia.
“Some would say even less than that. In more mature markets, the comparable percentage would be in double-digit percentage. This is where regional ecommerce is headed.”
And the belief is gaining ground that selling luxury is the way forward. Majority of regional online sellers have had their focus on shifting gadgets, vouchers and holiday stays. Luxury-centred online vendors have been there, but essentially as off-shoots of global operators.
It’s all changing now — recently, Symphony Ventures firmed up a joint venture with Milan headquartered Yoox Net-a-Porter to launch a full-scale regional operation, expected to be some time next year.
Ounass is aiming for more than a head-start with the December 15 launch. “Our group interests have a leadership position in the region from a physical store perspective,” said Al Tayer. “Brands entrusted us with opportunities that we have seen through successfully, whether through single-brand stores or the department stores we operate.
“We are creating a multi-brand platform focused on the Middle East customer — curated to their tastes and maximising the user experience.”
Al Tayer emphasises the “multi-brand” aspect. All of the leading global brands offer delivery within the UAE for shoppers here on their websites. But clubbing together a who’s who of coveted labels — and then adding categories such as footwear and fine jewellery — offers competitive advantages for Ounass.
On why it makes sense to add Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the first phase itself, Al Tayer said: “Because we have the physical presence in those markets and also the Amber loyalty programme that’s doing well.” (He added there were no plans to sell any equity in the portal to outside investors.)
The choice of name — Ounass — also has a resonance for the Group. It represents a revival of an in-house brand from 10 years ago. “It had a certain following among regional shoppers and now we are creating an opportunity in the online space to reconnect,” the CEO said.
