E-commerce may have taken its own sweet time to win over retailers and consumers in the region, but that is unlikely to come in the way of the region emerging a fast-track adopter of mobile commerce. Portal operators are doing test runs that would allow transactions to be done from a smartphone or tablet, which they believe will become the choice interfaces for the region’s tech-savvy shoppers. Tejuri.com, the Dubai Government promoted entity that offers e-space on behalf of retailers, looks to offer such a window within the next four to six months. That is quick on the draw given that it is only four months since the portal launched operations. “Even during this period when we did not have a dedicated m-commerce interface, shoppers were getting onto the main portal via their mobile devices and placing orders with our retailers,” said Ayaz Maqbool, managing director of the portal. “That would be 30-40 per cent of our users; of these an equal number were accessing through smartphones and tablets.” Mind you, each of the mobile interfaces in turn has to have its own bells-and-whistles in the customer experience it offers. “The design discussions are on and there is a lot of importance that we attach to this process,” said Maqbool. “It has to be such that e-shoppers get the same look and feel of the Tejuri offering whether they do so through a computer, a mobile phone or a tablet.”
While buyers outside of the UAE can shop on the portal, Tejuri plans to launch a strategic campaign in Saudi Arabia, where e-commerce adoption just keeps growing.“While we have delivered merchandise to buyers as far off as Europe and have shoppers from other GCC markets, the tipping point for Tejuri regionally will come when we have a fully Arabised content simultaneously,” said Maqbool. “That’s coming before the year end.” Regional coverage is what any e-commerce portal has to aspire to. Dikran Tchablakian, CEO of techbuy (formerly CompuMe) and LetsTango.com, believes the recently online venture will get to that point - optimal regional scale - by late 2014. “At the back-end, it is not as easy as it sounds to move from brick-and-mortar to online - the logistics is totally different, just to name one,” said Tchablakian. “In the majority of cases, the online vendor has to get delivery done within 24 hours and requires a mechanism to do so. It also means investments in bigger warehouses to cater to that scale.” Wider exposure could also mean that techbuy learns not to go by what its name says. The merchandising offer would extend to apparel, where the margins are still as fat as they come, books and others. In short, try and be all things to all manner of future shoppers. But does getting shoppers online come at a price? “I certainly believe that online selling requires vendors to offer a discount to their brick-and-mortar pricing - 10-15 per cent is a must,” said Tchablakian. “But to compensate an online vendor need not be worried about rental costs and sales personnel. All these direct savings can help with putting up competitive pricing on the merchandise.” Online vendors in the region do agree on one thing - if a customer can be compelled to shop at a particular portal chances are that he will make a return visit. On such repeat visits - and the size of the purchases they put up on each transaction - hinges success for the e-tailer. And it would also mean that e-commerce - and m-commerce - in the region has taken off.
