News that global monolith Amazon has agreed to buy Souq.com has upped the ante in the realm of retail in the UAE. It’s no secret that we love our megamalls – as much for their entertainment attractions as for the bargains on offer – but will the convenience of online shopping as offered by the world’s biggest internet retailer change our habits?
We asked users of the TaskSpotting app for their opinions on online shopping.
TaskSpotting describes itself as the region’s only advocate marketing platform and pitches our questions to its app community who typically engage with brands to create content, spread awareness and share feedback.
Among the 3,649 respondents, nearly 60 per cent said they regularly purchased goods online and almost three in four people said that price was the main reason for doing so. Sixty-three per cent agreed that online shops have a better range of products than local stores. However, respondents were more closely split on the question of whether goods bought online arrived on time.
The upshot seems to be that online retail is growing but convenient bricks-and-mortar stores will be around for the foreseeable future.
