It seems that 2017 will be a watershed year for online shopping in the UAE. After a long period of silence, Noon, the $1bn e-commerce startup backed by Emaar Properties chairman Mohamed Alabbar, finally opened for business in the UAE, selling a range of goods that include electronics, groceries, fashion and home and kitchen products.
Noon's launch in the UAE – to be followed by a Saudi launch in the coming weeks - comes a month after the sale of Amazon products in the country for the first time via Souq.com, which Amazon acquired in March.
Neither services is going to put the country’s bricks and mortar retailers out of business any time soon, given the centrality of malls in the UAE’s social and economic culture. Old shopping habits are unlikely to change overnight.
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Read more
[ Emirates love for shopping mall looks unlikely to fade ]
[ Price comparison: Souq.com and Noon.com ]
[ E-commerce in the UAE: is 2017 the year it finally takes off? ]
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But the arrival of two heavyweights like Noon and Amazon promises to kick start e-commerce in a big way in the region; BMI Research forecasts that the region’s online retail market, while still small compared with the rest of the world, will double in size to $48.8 billion by 2021.
Retail is just one sector in the UAE’s economy that is undergoing a transformation as a result of disruptive digital technology. Mashreq yesterday announced the launch of its online-only Mashreq Neo banking service, targeted at millennials, which does away with the need for physical branches and branch staff. Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, the bank’s chief executive, last month said the bank plans to shed 10 per cent of its workforce over the next year.
Du and Etisalat have also launched digital only offerings, in the form of Virgin Mobile and Swyp respectively. Such services are designed not only to appeal to young and digital savvy customers, but also to see whether such digital only products can point to savings elsewhere in the telcos’ business lines.
Such a trend will significantly impact jobs, the consequences of still yet to be determined, both in the the Middle East and beyond. But for now the region's customers can celebrate the launch of Noon and other services that promise a more convenient and less expensive shopping experience.
Everything Now
Arcade Fire
(Columbia Records)
The specs: 2018 Maxus T60
Price, base / as tested: Dh48,000
Engine: 2.4-litre four-cylinder
Power: 136hp @ 1,600rpm
Torque: 360Nm @ 1,600 rpm
Transmission: Five-speed manual
Fuel consumption, combined: 9.1L / 100km
RACE CARD
6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Dirt) 1,200m
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,900m
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (D) 2,000m
8.15pm: Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (D) 1,600m
8.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: PlanRadar
Started: 2013
Co-founders: Ibrahim Imam, Sander van de Rijdt, Constantin Köck, Clemens Hammerl, Domagoj Dolinsek
Based: Vienna, Austria
Sector: Construction and real estate
Current number of staff: 400+
Investment stage: Series B
Investors: Headline, Berliner Volksbank Ventures, aws Gründerfonds, Cavalry Ventures, Proptech1, Russmedia, GR Capital
If you go
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
The winners
Fiction
- ‘Amreekiya’ by Lena Mahmoud
- ‘As Good As True’ by Cheryl Reid
The Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award
- ‘Syrian and Lebanese Patricios in Sao Paulo’ by Oswaldo Truzzi; translated by Ramon J Stern
- ‘The Sound of Listening’ by Philip Metres
The George Ellenbogen Poetry Award
- ‘Footnotes in the Order of Disappearance’ by Fady Joudah
Children/Young Adult
- ‘I’ve Loved You Since Forever’ by Hoda Kotb
More from UAE Human Development Report:
AIDA RETURNS
Director: Carol Mansour
Starring: Aida Abboud, Carol Mansour
Rating: 3.5./5
Honeymoonish
Director: Elie El Samaan
Starring: Nour Al Ghandour, Mahmoud Boushahri
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8
Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km
Price: Dh380,000
On sale: now
Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
- People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”.
- Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better.
- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Sav
Started: 2021
Founder: Purvi Munot
Based: Dubai
Industry: FinTech
Funding: $750,000 as of March 2023
Investors: Angel investors
All The Light We Cannot See
Creator: Steven Knight
Stars: Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Laurie, Aria Mia Loberti
Rating: 1/5
FIGHT CARD
Anthony Joshua v Otto Wallin, 12 rounds, heavyweight
Deontay Wilder v Joseph Parker, 12 rounds, heavyweight
Dmitry Bivol v Lyndon Arthur, 12 rounds, light heavyweight
Daniel Dubois v Jarrell Miller, 12 rounds, heavyweight
Filip Hrgovic v Mark de Mori, 12 rounds, heavyweight
Arslanbek Makhmudov v Agit Kabayel, 12 rounds, heavyweight
Frank Sanchez v Junior Fa, 12 rounds, heavyweight
Jai Opetaia v Ellis Zorro, 12 rounds, cruiserweight
Empires of the Steppes: A History of the Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilization
Author: Kenneth W Harl
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Pages: 576
Most ODI hundreds
49 - Sachin Tendulkar, India
47 - Virat Kohli, India
31 - Rohit Sharma, India
30 - Ricky Ponting, Australia/ICC
28 - Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka/Asia
27 - Hashim Amla, South Africa
25 - AB de Villiers, South Africa/Africa
25 - Chris Gayle, West Indies/ICC
25 - Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka/ICC/Asia
22 - Sourav Ganguly, India/Asia
22 - Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sri Lanka