Two years in the making, every aspect of Saletab.com’s operations have been set up according to international best practices. They already have 35,000 items online including mobile handsets, designer handbags, cameras, jewelry, fragrances, media tablets and even an Apple Store. Three warehouses in Bahrain, the USA and Hong Kong ensure that they have goods on hand and ready to fill customer orders. The goal over the next couple of years is to have over five million items available for purchase through Saletab.com.
Al Jouf lived in the USA for almost nine years. While in college there he majored in eCommerce with a focus on overcoming issues with online purchasing in the Middle East. After returning to Saudi Arabia, he found it difficult not to have the convenience of online shopping, so he decided to create Saletab.com.
“There are four major keys to eCommerce: payment, delivery, trust and confidence. We have found ways to overcome the issues associated with all these points,” Al Jouf explained. “We want people in Saudi Arabia to think of Saletab.com as a physical store with a web interface. My team and I are right here in the Kingdom. Come to the site and we’ll chat. We just want to make shopping much easier.”
The company’s all female team of customer satisfaction representatives have been educated for nearly a year and are dedicated to their duties. Most of the company’s staff in the Kingdom are Saudi women holding positions from office manager to web designer to sales and marketing representatives. Al Jouf is certain that women will provide a better customer experience than Saudi consumers generally receive.
“We are different in that Saletab.com provides customers with a comfortable environment to shop. There’s no huge charge for shipping to the Middle East like there is with Amazon.com. Returns are absolutely free. We offer Arabic or English customer support including chat support in Arabic so that customers can ask about products before they buy,” said Al Jouf. “Payment is through credit card, Pay Pal and deposit payment, where Saudi customers simply deposit the purchase price to the Saletab.com bank account. By year end, it’s planned that Sadad payments will be operational.”
The amount of time it will take for Saletab.com’s customers to receive their orders will vary. Items shipped from Bahrain should arrive at the customer’s address in the Kingdom in two days. If an item is coming in from Saletab’s warehouses in Hong Kong or the USA, the maximum delivery time is 15 days. Al Jouf thinks that customers won’t mind waiting because the company’s prices are so low and many items are unavailable in Saudi Arabia. Saletab.com has already signed contracts with suppliers to have a reserved stock of new items shipped to their warehouses on the first day of release.
One area where Al Jouf is sure that the company will get high marks is in returns. Saletab.com has a 365 day return policy. The item should be returned unused with its original packaging. However, Al Jouf asserted that it’s important that customers know they have the opportunity to see what they are buying and if they don’t like it for some reason, it can be returned free of charge.
“When someone returns an item, he’s waiting to see your reaction. If you offer great service when it comes to returns and warranty issues, this gives customers confidence to buy again,” said Al Jouf. “If a customer is returning electronics due to a warranty claim, we immediately check the item and replace it if there’s a hardware problem, or repair it if there’s a software problem. As I mentioned before, we want to make people comfortable shopping online at our store. We have to compete with a physical store where the customer can go, drive the car, stop there and hand the item back to them. We are trying to make our customer service help desk a really sweet experience.”
When asked if brick and mortar competitors would be unhappy with Saletab’s strategy, Al Jouf replied, “Too many will be upset, but of course the market is so large that there’s plenty of business to go around. We hope to complete as well as compete. If physical stores come to us and say that they would like to partner with us, we’d welcome that. Our message to our customers is that Saletab.com is committed delivering excellent value and great service — the same excellent value and great service that we’ve all experienced elsewhere.”
