Dubai: The online shopping portal Noon.com has gone live in Saudi Arabia, the second market to see a roll-out since the launch in the UAE in October. Much will now depend on how quickly Noon.com hits its strides in attracting traffic from within the kingdom and, just as important, converting them into sales.
“We will operate our own delivery fleet in major cities in Saudi Arabia,” said a top official. “The warehouse is in Riyadh and there are multiple marketplace operations.”
The official declined to comment on delivery frequencies and whether the whole of the kingdom will have same-day or next-day delivery. But the Noon.com’s website link for Saudi shoppers lists multiple delivery options — including three-day and four-day frequencies — depending on where the shopper is located. Market sources say this is par for the logistics industry, given the size of the kingdom.
Interestingly enough, Noon.com has its corporate headquarters in Riyadh and the warehouse is said to be one of the largest of its kind in the region. The hub will also come into play when it comes to extending operations to some of the other Gulf states.
As in the UAE, Noon.com is also offering up the platform for Saudi entrepreneurs and start-ups to showcase and sell their wares.
Market sources say that online shopping take-up rates in Saudi Arabia are maintaining high double-digit growth rates — even higher than what the UAE’s has been recording in recent quarters.
Of course, the online boom times in Saudi Arabia started slightly later than in the UAE. The likes of Wadi.com and Souq.com are the dominant names in the Saudi online shopping space and Noon.com’s express intent will be to build up scale in the shortest time frame.
To get there, the portal is offering a ‘Homecoming’ campaign to induce first-time site visitors to come in and stay connected.
The priority categories in the initial push are electronics, fashion, beauty, baby, home and kitchen and groceries. It is interesting that groceries have been listed right at the time of the launch itself. Groceries and fast-moving consumer durables will have a big role to play in generating a higher frequency of daily shopper visits.
Saudi Arabia’s supermarket chains are now entering strategic alliances with online vendors rather than just rely on their online platforms. This will also instantly increase the number of products listed on the e-commerce sites and also give them access to third-party warehousing and delivery facilities operated by the supermarkets.
