In the vast Middle East, an e-commerce platform is attracting the keen attention and investment of the business community with its unique characteristics and huge business opportunities. This platform is Souq Shopping Platform, which is famous for being the earliest and most popular e-commerce platform in the Middle East. However, Souq is more than that. It represents the vast blue ocean market in the Middle East, solves the problems of logistics and payment, and provides a wide variety of sales categories with high profits. Next, we will analyze the advantages of Souq Shopping Platform one by one and explore why it is worth investing in so many companies.
First of all, Souq represents the blue ocean market in the Middle East. Since its establishment in 2006, Souq has become the earliest and most popular e-commerce platform in the Middle East. The Middle East is one of the fastest growing e-commerce markets in the world. According to BMI research, e-commerce sales in the region are expected to grow from US$4.3 billion in 2016 to US$22.3 billion in 2020. At present, only 15% of companies have opened online stores, and the e-commerce market in the Middle East has huge room for development.
Secondly, Souq has successfully solved the logistics and payment problems in the Middle East. Even with the huge market potential, the logistics and payment systems in the Middle East are still a problem for the development of cross-border e-commerce. However, Souq provides enterprises with efficient logistics and payment solutions through its Payfort gateway and self-built last-mile logistics service provider Q Express, opening up new opportunities for cross-border transactions.
In addition, Souq’s sales categories are rich and profitable. It is reported that Souq has 45 million monthly active users on the platform and offers 8.4 million different products in 31 categories. The average customer unit price of e-commerce in the Middle East is about US$100, which brings considerable profits to sellers. Some sellers have achieved annual profits of more than 30 million on the Souq platform. What is exciting is that most of these sellers are companies without cross-border e-commerce genes and operating experience, and have achieved unexpected success after the transformation online. For experienced sellers, the sales and profit potential is undoubtedly more considerable.
For sellers who want to settle on the Souq platform, there are some requirements that need to be met: Have a UAE business license or UAE ID card (such as local ID card, phone number, tax number and bank account, etc.). Must have local warehousing facilities and shipping addresses in the UAE. These requirements ensure that sellers can comply with local laws and regulations and provide a formal corporate identity as well as localized warehousing and logistics support.
In summary, the Souq shopping platform has become a highly watched player in the e-commerce industry in the Middle East with the business opportunities of the Middle East blue ocean market, the ability to solve logistics and payment problems, as well as a rich sales category and lucrative profits. Both existing companies and new entrants can seize opportunities on the Souq platform and open up the huge e-commerce market in the Middle East. For some novice sellers, if they have just joined this platform, they still need to patiently explore the rules of the platform and try not to violate the platform rules, otherwise it will affect the sales of the products.