The revolutionizing world of e-commerce isn’t a new concept to the UAE at all. In fact, according to a recent study- UAE residents buy something online anywhere between 1-5 times in a week. Dubai, of all the cities in Emirates, has seen the biggest leap from traditional methods of retail purchase to online shopping. With the countless benefits of e-commerce, more and more businesses are adopting e-commerce to reach not only local but international consumers at all.
If you are wondering where to start- then you have landed at the perfect place! With a wide-open market to step into, setting up an e-commerce business in the UAE is relatively easier and can boost your business in no time. Here are a few steps one needs to follow to successful start selling online in the UAE.
- Be certain of what you want to sell.
It is advisable to research on what you might want to sell online. It can certainly be something unique but think if a consumer would want to spend their money on it. A large number of online sellers go with something which is already present in the market and sees its fair share of consumers. You can always reinvent/renovate the product, invest in a more robust marketing plan, repackage and add additional features to the product.
- Register your domain name
Domain name is the name that you would want to register your business in. Have a name that is unique but easy to remember. Once the name has been decided upon, one needs to purchase a website or a URL with the domain name in question. You can search on these sites: www. Godaddy.com and www.1and1.com. Once you purchase the URL, it’s now time to build your website and design it.
- Website building and designing
Sometimes when you purchase a domain, the domain reseller will lure you to buy ready-made templates to build your website. The advantage with these Do-It-Yourself templates is that it’s pre-designed and you don’t need technical skills to populate content on these templates. But if you need to customize the site to suit your brand or need a professional looking website which can scale and grow along with your business, you need to hire a Web Designer or get your website built through professional web development company such as Webarro.
- Payment gateway integration
One of the prime aspects of setting up a successful e-store is to integrate a robust, trustworthy and stable payment gateway. Find the major payment processors in your area which are stable and have a decent transaction success rate. You can make use of PayPal or PAYFORT which offer efficient credit card payment methods in the Middle East. If you are launching a new business and want to test the market reaction, you can opt for Cash on Delivery initially and then tie-up with a service provider for online payments at a later stage.
- Logistics, deliver and support setup
Make prior arrangements for a warehouse and storage. More importantly, you would want to invest in a dependable and trustworthy third-party logistics/delivery partner. You can sign up with established logistics partners like Aramex, UPS, FedEx or DHL. Using well-known logistics partners increases the credibility of your business to consumers.
- Adding products and launching an e-store
Cataloging, categorizing and adding products on your website is a tough task and may consume a lot of time. However, this shouldn’t worry you if you are getting your website build through a web development company. But you need to make sure that a consumer can easily navigate through your store and find the products they are looking for. We would advise hiring a good marketing manager for the same who can invest their skills and time to do some research on the demography of your business, study consumer trends, study other successful business strategies for a successful launch and future plans to sustain and grow your business.
If you are a start-up, planning to launch an online business in UAE, don’t forget to get in touch with Webarro for special offers and discounts. As a start-up friendly company, Webarro helps new businesses in UAE to create professional online e-shop without costing an arm and a leg.
