Alphabet-owned Google launched its Grow My Store tool in both Arabic and English in the Middle East and North Africa region, which helps local retailers grow their business using data analytics, the company said.
Rolled out globally in May 2019 in English, French, German and Spanish, the free tool aims to help local businesses improve their digital storefront, grow customer traffic and optimise their customers' online experience to successfully complete further transactions.
The tool assesses online shops and generates a report with recommendations for shop owners on how to improve a customer's shopping experience, which in turn can help boost the development of their business.
Retailers enter their website address into the Grow My Store tool to receive a customised assessment report and an overall score supported by industry benchmarks, in addition to consumer trends that can improve company websites.
The recommendations are "market-specific and are presented with more than hundred local insights by internal research and external surveys," Google said.
“Retailers witnessed a paradigm shift in the last year ... thousands have moved online. They are the heart of our communities and the driver of recovery in Mena and around the world,” said Ziad Chehade, head of business marketing at Google in Mena region.
“We are committed to helping retailers grow and reach more customers via this tool, as businesses will be able to evaluate their sites directly and receive a set of local insights and customised recommendations,” he said.
Currently, Grow My Store is available in North America, the UK, Western Europe, Turkey, the Mena region and Sub-Saharan Africa. It supports websites in Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.
Last year, Google announced that all retailers have access to list their products on the Google Shopping tab, across eight countries in the Mena region, to help them connect with more customers regardless of whether they advertise with Google.
The Covid-19 pandemic led to a surge in e-commerce and accelerated the digital transformation of companies, services and industries.
As lockdowns became the new normal, e-commerce’s share of global retail trade grew to about 17 per cent in 2020 from 14 per cent in 2019, according to a report in March by the UN Conference on Trade and Development.
A previous survey by Chicago-based consultancy Kearney showed that the GCC's e-commerce sector is predicted to more than double to $50 billion by 2025, up from $24bn last year.