The Al Tayers are taking on Mohamed Alabbar as the Bloomingdale’s licensee launches an luxury e-commerce platform to rival Yoox Net A Porter.
The Dubai-based conglomerate, which is currently the largest luxury retailer in the Middle East, said it will launch its first online retail business on Friday, a luxury e-commerce brand called Ounass. It will serve the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Ounass.com, a dual language Arabic and English site, will sell a selection of women’s clothing, footwear, handbags, jewellery, cosmetics and home merchandise from designer brands around the world, including Gucci, Roland Mouret, Rami Al Ali and Ayesha Depala.
The company said it would deliver goods for free. It said that Dubai residents would be able to receive their orders in less than two hours, with same-day delivery for anyone based elsewhere in the UAE. GCC residents outside the UAE will receive their purchases within 48 hours.
The company also said it would offer the option for consumers to pay by cash on delivery as well as an in-home personal styling service, and easy exchanges and returns.
The news comes as more and more UAE businesses are looking to position themselves in the Middle East’s underserved e-commerce market, as improvements in technology and growing acceptance among consumers builds demand.
The move comes as the Emaar Properties chairman and prominent Dubai businessman, Mohamed Alabbar, has also been announcing ambitious e-commerce plans for the region.
Last month, Mr Alabbar announced not one but two new online ventures aimed at the Middle Eastern market, including a Dh505.5 million joint venture with Italian luxury online retailer Yoox Net A Porter and e-commerce firm Noon.
And according to media reports, Amazon, the world’s biggest e-commerce retailer, is currently in talks to buy a stake in the Mena region’s biggest e-commerce site, Souq.com.
“Ounass.com offers the Middle Eastern customer relevant merchandise, and content shot locally and created specifically for her lifestyle, together with a service promise unparalleled by any other regional e-retailer,” said Khalid Al Tayer, the chief executive of Al Tayer Insignia, the retail business of Al Tayer Group.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
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Iraq negotiating over Iran sanctions impact
- US sanctions on Iran’s energy industry and exports took effect on Monday, November 5.
- Washington issued formal waivers to eight buyers of Iranian oil, allowing them to continue limited imports. Iraq did not receive a waiver.
- Iraq’s government is cooperating with the US to contain Iranian influence in the country, and increased Iraqi oil production is helping to make up for Iranian crude that sanctions are blocking from markets, US officials say.
- Iraq, the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped last month at a record 4.78 million barrels a day, former Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luaibi said on Oct. 20. Iraq exported 3.83 million barrels a day last month, according to tanker tracking and data from port agents.
- Iraq has been working to restore production at its northern Kirkuk oil field. Kirkuk could add 200,000 barrels a day of oil to Iraq’s total output, Hook said.
- The country stopped trucking Kirkuk oil to Iran about three weeks ago, in line with U.S. sanctions, according to four people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t allowed to speak to media.
- Oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s third-largest supplier, have slumped since President Donald Trump announced in May that he’d reimpose sanctions. Iran shipped about 1.76 million barrels a day in October out of 3.42 million in total production, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
- Benchmark Brent crude fell 47 cents to $72.70 a barrel in London trading at 7:26 a.m. local time. U.S. West Texas Intermediate was 25 cents lower at $62.85 a barrel in New York. WTI held near the lowest level in seven months as concerns of a tightening market eased after the U.S. granted its waivers to buyers of Iranian crude.
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Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Asia Cup 2018 final
Who: India v Bangladesh
When: Friday, 3.30pm, Dubai International Stadium
Watch: Live on OSN Cricket HD
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score)
Porto (0) v Liverpool (2), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
RESULT
Leeds United 1 Manchester City 1
Leeds: Rodrigo (59')
Man City: Sterling (17')
Man of the Match: Rodrigo Moreno (Leeds)
New schools in Dubai
