All at Tea - Charity lunch this Wednesday!


Every year, more than 10,000 ships with over 200,000 seafarers drop anchor off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. In the UAE, 99 percent of all the goods that are used are imported by ship, so life in the UAE is dependent on these seafarers. Without them, people and businesses would suffer.

Many of the seafarers onboard these ships do not get the opportunity to go ashore. Since the ships are up to 18 miles out, it is just too costly. As a result, it is common for them to go through long periods of isolation and loneliness, unable to communicate with family and friends at home. 

“The Mission to Seafarers” is a charitable organization that is committed to supporting the seafarers around the world. It was founded in England in 1856 and has been operating in the gulf since 1962.

The organization launched “The Angel Appeal” to build and equip a boat to support the seafarers. It survives ONLY ON DONATIONS. 

Join me on Wednesday afternoon for a charity lunch in support of The Angel Appeal http://solidariteaarabia.eventbrite.co.uk/ 

If you can’t make it in person, please donate whatever you can that will help make the seafarers lives better, clothes, books, electronics, etc

Contact either myself or Kellie Whitehead at kw@mamamediame.com 

How to avoid that weird smell your clothes have after washing


No the answer isn’t more fabric conditioner.  

I noticed that whatever I did to my clothes, the minute I got them out of the washing machine they didn’t smell quite right.  After a bit of investigating, several of my friends told me they experienced the same thing. 
 

In the UAE we have some strange “grey water” issues.  This isn’t anything the average consumer can do anything about.  But there are some tips that can help. Washing machines are constantly damp, dark and enclosed, perfect conditions for not so nice whiffs to develop. Mould/mildew can build up over time where there have been residues (residues from detergents and/or fabric conditioner provide food and moist conditions - ideal for bacteria to live on!).

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So long and thanks for all the fish



This post should really be titled “Your daily dose of WTF” because that would be the best description. 
 

The Somali Pirate Crisis seems to have been going on forever, so i’m sure you were all as relieved as I was when the headline “Somali pirates who hjacked ship did not mean any harm” appeared, even though “they had rocket propelled grenades with them” 

Phew. No harm done there….

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Rethinking your target market in the UAE

Using digital channels to appeal to more profitable consumers


In this post I look at the perception that focusing only on certain demographics will result in profitability for firms operating in the UAE. Brands that continue to put 80 percent of their efforts in reaching 30 percent of the population are missing out on growth opportunities.  

I have also tried to show that the rapidly expanding “middle class” is where the majority of consumption falls, particularly with regards to volume. This middle class expansion can be seen most aggressively in the Asian states, particularly India.

Finally I have suggested that; because this demographic demonstrates maturity with online tools, brands using digital channels can reach a greater part of the population and appeal to more profitable consumers. 

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The Unbearable Elusiveness of Data

In my last post I talked about the large differences in figures surrounding the research on Ecommerce in the region.  I also pointed out that the problem is further compounded by the way the media reports on research.  Euromonitor were very quick to get in touch with me after that post, which is very commendable, the delay in posting a follow up is purely due to myself. 

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Retailers Refuse to admit Reality

SOPA was like a flashback to 2003.  Once again content publishers were “infuriated” by illegal file sharing and piracy, in much the same way the music industry was before Steve Jobs came along and gave them a wonderful solution that married creativity and technology so everyone could win.  This week’s announcement that Middle East retailers who were planning to open online stores have changed their minds prompted me to think about how that gap is being filled by equally innovative upstarts, and will probably prevent any likelihood of the big box retailers gaining their customers back.

Before the end of 2011, there was many an optimistic article claiming that 2012 would see the opening of more online stores driven by Lulu hypermarket and Ikea.  All of a sudden, they have changed their minds citing the fact that online shopping isn’t popular enough.  You would have thought that before going to the press in June 2011 stating their optimism, they would have mapped out the popularity.  Plus, we just had Christmas, usually a huge driving factor for online sales.  Sales for the site EmiratesAvenue.com had risen 50 per cent in the month leading up to Christmas Day 2011 compared with the same period last year.  Julian Pascual said, “In the few weeks before [Christmas], we sold over half a million dirhams of goods.”

Personally I don’t buy the retailers’ argument .  In fact Euromonitor states:  “Despite the size of the e-commerce market, it is expected to grow dramatically over the next four years, with spending online to hit US$2.09 billion (Dh7.67bn) by 2016, more than double the $1.01bn spent last year”.  But then it isn’t the first time research has been completely dismissed, as last week’s spat between advertising execs and Ipsos and PARC demonstrated

If smaller outfits such as JadoPado / Nahel / Souq / Markavip / Sukar / Mumzworld / Alshop / Emirates Avenue can do it, it seems absurd that the larger retailers can’t, especially considering they already have the logistics and infrastructure set up, including warehousing.   But; like Sony’s failure to create an end to end solution for music a decade ago, even with the key ingredients of recording label, device and electronic expertise; this is probably just Big Business Syndrome.  The inability to reach consensus, bureaucratic fumbling and failure to focus on the end consumer is stifling innovation.  

One of the main problems in the mentality is this: “let’s get the website running first and get an audience” (GM of Ikea UAE) rather than “we already have a database of customers, let’s think about how technology can make their lives easier”.  I particularly like this interview with Mumzworld founder Mona Ataya as an example of how to think right.

Should the big retailers eventually decide to launch their online shops, they should be in an advantageous position to leverage their existing marketing and CRM abilities to drive a lot of traffic to their online stores efficiently.  They already have brand names that people are aware of.  They already have communication channels set up with customers. In some cases they may even have a loyalty programme.

How would they go about doing it?  Starting with a good SEM / SEO strategy, communications that span 3 screens (tv / mobile / web) and a social presence to take care of customer service and social shopping including the occasional deal or discount.   Citruss TV – the QVC of the arab world has a great formula.  It has a TV channel, a great facebook page with over 35,000 fans, a website you can buy the goods from, promoted tweets and a call center.

For the large conglomerates, MAF Group, Emke Group, Landmark Group,  it’s a brilliant way to capture great data which could lead to cross selling opportunities from other divisions within the group. Clearly if you’ve got a woman buying stuff from Babyshop online, she might be persuaded to buy a 7 seater minivan to transport her and her family.  How do you get to this stage? Not without capturing and analyzing all that data, and www.npario.com have a great solution that gives you powerful analytics in a easy to read and easy to manipulate format.

Big Retail need not worry, because there is an all in one E-commerce platform based on SaaS called www.martjack.com which is already being implemented here by fashion startups, airlines, electronics chains and more. The monthly license fee starts as low as $200/month.  I’ve seen this product in action and it works. Best of all, it hardly takes anytime to set up and the features are flexible, giving you more time to focus on servicing your customers.


By focusing on where the market is now, rather than building for the future, retailers are literally starving themselves of future customers.  Today’s startups are swiftly transforming into tomorrow’s big business, and by that time they will have had years of experience iterating and finding a solution that works.  I hope they get a move on.

 


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