Emirates NBD joins e-commerce rush with launch of Skyshopper

Suvo Sarkar of Emirates NBD. Razan Alzayani / The National

Emirates NBD’s launch of its Skyshopper online retail platform yesterday is the latest in a series of digital launches sweeping the country in recent months.

“We have seen 35 per cent of all credit card spend be spent online last year and its growing 30 per cent every year,” said Suvo Sarkar, the general manager, retail banking and wealth management at Emirates NBD.

The site will only take electronic payments and is only accessible to those with credit and debit cards from the bank.

He said the site would not be revenue generating for the bank, but will allow the bank’s card holders safe and simple access – with discounts – to sites that are becoming part of their daily life.

“The usage of online sites from our 1.2 million customers meant it was, quite simply, a space we couldn’t not afford to be in. We expect the return on investment to be over three years, seeing a lift in card spend, loyalty and new customers using the service,” said Mr Sarkar.

The site has aggregated content from 10 other sites at launch, including fashion portal Namshi.com and grocery site Trolley.ae and expects to add another ten sites over the next six months.

“As the online world increasingly becomes part of the physical world, actual businesses have to offer virtual incentives,” said Ronaldo Mouchawar, the chief executive and founder of Souq.com, which has been bought by the largest e-commerce company Amazon.

“It is primarily for entities to engage customers. Emirates, Etisalat and RAKBank all have similar sites and offers.”

Skyshopper will avoid the drain of cash-on-delivery (COD) that many of the country’s e-tailers find a burden.

“The problems and costs of COD are multifold,” said Ulugbek Yuldashev, founder and chief executive of Awok, an electronics portal.

The preparation, packing and dispatching of the product must be completed before the order is paid for and often the customer will not have the money available when it is delivered, meaning further costs.

“At Awok, we offer discounts for the card paying customers when the payment is processed. Delivering to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia brings a new challenge,” he added.

“There are various costs involved in these such as transportation costs, various custom duties and of course the cost of the product and reverse logistics in case the customer does not buy the product.”

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