Through this initiative, EZW, in collaboration with Dubai Customs, will put in place an ecosystem that determines participants in the online domain to join forces and enable customers to initiate online trade.
The founding partners include Aramex, Cupola, CWT-SML Logistics, Dubai Trade, MasterCard, Mohebi Logistics and Shop Go.
Features of EZW and Dubai Customs’ ecosystem include ecommerce tailored regulations, one-stop-shop solutions, physical fulfilment facilities and services, financial infrastructure, payment gateway, e-marketplace platforms and call centre services. The ecommerce hub’s financial infrastructure and payment gateway will allow processing of international, regional and local credit cards, prepaid cards, debit cards, or direct debit.
The hub’s store front developers will offer ecommerce platforms ready to service enterprises or start-up targeting B2C or B2B, developing customized storefronts, payment gateway integration, products configuration, backend integration to accounting systems and other web services.
Through e-marketplace service providers, a company will be able to list a product, ship to customers through a third party fulfilment services and collect payments.
The work on the project will start in April 2014. The ecommerce business hub is expected to be operational in the Q2 2015.
GCC ecommerce industry is estimated to grow 35% year-on-year to USD 15 billion in 2015 according to Visa International, making it the world’s fastest-growing market for ecommerce. The regional ecommerce market is currently valued at USD 8 billion. According to Internet World Stats, there are over 90 million internet users across the MENA region. Over the last few years, the number of online retailers has steadily climbed in the region, with the UAE making up the biggest share of the region’s ecommerce market, followed by Saudi Arabia.
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