E-commerce... What's next?

If you are not selling online, you won’t be selling soon… It’s all about the ever-growing Multi-Billion Dollars Market and its influence on every other industry.

It was only after the blossom of Amazon, eBay, and other e-commerce giants in the US and European markets that investors started considering to launch their e-commerce activities in the Middle East.

Key players have been pushing their aggressive marketing spending toward the Middle East markets, not only to gain their position as market leaders, but also to introduce online purchases as a new norm among customers of these markets.

Business models have varied among the big ones in the Middle East, starting with Souq’s success in markets’ penetration, to Rocket Internet's Jumia that almost doubles its revenue every month, and Dubizzle’s marketing budget that exceeds any of its competitors’. Each has used a unique approach to the market, but all have depended on the “Cash on Delivery” payment model to eliminate customers’ fear of paying online.

As entrepreneurs were launching their online stores within the Middle East, other entrepreneurs were shaping the evolution of e-commerce within the Western hemisphere.

Specialized Stores:

The trend shifted from electronic malls like Amazon, to specialized e-commerce websites, selling electronics, clothes, or even specializing in Cellphone accessories like accessory geeks. From electronics to fashion and apparel, whatever the products are, if there is a demand force on them, you will find specialized e-commerce stores for them.

E-commerce platforms:

The services provided by Magento, Shopify, Bigcommerce, and other platforms have allowed for minor scale entrepreneurship within the field, saving e-commerce stores 90% of the marketing and operations’ headache to launch their businesses. In a few clicks, anyone can launch a store on these platforms, and benefit from their audience exposure.

Discounts websites:

The idea is simple; people love discounts, let’s show them discounts. Although these websites are spread all over the internet, I have never heard of a discounts website failing to bring wide audience attention.

Recommendation Engines:

Such engines are used to monitor each customer’s interaction on the website, to bring them product recommendations that are personalized, based on what they view, purchase, and rate on the website. Amazon has reported an increase of 29% in sales for the first quarter, after applying the “recommended for you” section. The company is using the same engine to predict future demand on products, and start shipping goods to its distribution centers accordingly.

Latest innovations:

• When everything was already being sold online, ByeBuy started offering its customers electronics rental at convenient prices. Just rent the latest iPhone this month, and have the HTC next month.
• After the dramatic increase of “products comparison” websites, Product Chart evolved to answer most customers’ questions into simple charts.

When choosing your next laptop or smartphone, you get to pick the device’s specs and price range, and the chart gets customized to only include the products available, based on your choices.

It’s only through monitoring the head that you can tell where the tail is going. The Middle East e-commerce market is going to have a place for Specialized Stores, E-commerce Platforms, Recommendation Engines, and even more Discounts Websites, just because everybody loves them!