E-commerce in the Middle East has had a slow start. The low Internet penetration rate has been a factor in this, coupled with the limited number of credit card users and difficulties in the delivery of goods purchased online. Numerous local companies have a web presence, but few actually sell merchandise through a website.
Enter The Emirates High Street (www.theemirateshighstreet.com). This is a new service launched for Emirates’ customers. The Emirates High Street shopping experience can be viewed in both an online and a hard copy catalog. There are more than 200 different products to chose from, mostly designer brands. The Emirates High Street also offers “experiences,” such as a winter driving experience, gourmet holiday and a photography workshop in India.
The Emirates High Street caters to shoppers of every budget. Purchase a Burj Al-Arab 3D Puzzle for $29 or an original painting from Heiner Meyer for $54,831. Emirates aims to serve its Skywards frequent fliers by allowing Skywards members to combine their frequent flier air miles with a reduced purchase price for many items in the catalog. Additionally, some of the most desirable items can be purchased only by those with a million or more Skywards miles.
TheEmiratesHighStreet.com is an interesting effort by a Middle Eastern brand. It appears to be gaining popularity already as some of the featured items are already sold out. One anomaly however is the delivery price. For delivery of a purchase with a weight of 1kg in the UAE, the shipping price is $7. Delivery of that same item to a European address is $7. But shipping that item to an address in the GCC is $32. Plus not all products featured in the catalog can be delivered to all countries.
The Emirates High Street can only ship products to countries where they have authority to do so from their suppliers. The website claims that such a policy is in place so that product warranties can be fulfilled but it also would protect manufacturer’s channel partners and master distributors in certain markets.
Despite such drawbacks, it is a positive step to see a major Middle Eastern brand choose to engage in e-commerce and may encourage more of the region’s retailers to begin online sales.
