4 MENA platforms providing e-commerce-as-a-service

The e-commerce market in the MENA region has seen immense growth since 2010. Although Souq was by far the biggest one to cash out, the sector is still growing and businesses and entrepreneurs are finding their space in niche e-commerce.

However, not everyone has the time or technical expertise to build an e-commerce website from scratch. This is where Shopify, Magneto, OpenCart and its likes step in. While these are international players, there have also been a few home-grown startups in the region who are providing e-commerce solutions for those who want to have their own online stores.

Furthermore, they cater to a wider market by supporting Arabic as a language, thereby supporting more people from the region to address the changing market needs and stay relevant in the market.

Below are 4 platforms that take care of website management, order management, payments, shipping and more, allowing entrepreneurs to focus on their businesses better:

A Shopify like platform that allows merchants to build their online store, Zid has completed over 560K orders. In addition to the e-commerce platform, Zid also runs an Academy that helps entrepreneurs and their teams learn more about e-commerce, as well as conducts regular meetups and mentorship sessions. It has clocked in over 900 training and consulting hours.

Furthermore, Saudi-based Zid provides merchants access to 20 service providers in payments, shipments, deliveries and more.

Zid’s also provides a mobile app to manage your store. Some of its features include:

• Pre-determined shipping rates with Zid’s partners

• Payment options include bank transfer and cash on delivery.

• Easy tracking and management of inventory

• Reports on business performance

• Manage customer requests

• Processing shopping baskets for customers who prefer to order through WhatsApp or private messages

• Tech support

Based in Lebanon, Ecomz claims to have fulfilled over 10 million orders since its foundation in 2014 by Amer Tabbara and Rudy Bekerejian. In July this year they raised $4 million by Cedar Mundi Ventures to expand its reach and improve its platform with artificial intelligence.

Just like Shopify, Ecomz is an end-to-end e-commerce management platform that allows businesses to set up their online stores without any technical expertise.

With a freemium model, they allow stores to set up for free and have up to 100 products listed. It charges them a 5% of transaction value + $1.50 transaction fee on this model. Their second plan costs $24 per month, while allowing merchants to list 500 products and run the business without any transaction fee.

It translates your e-store into 20+ languages, including Arabic, and supports all major currencies, as per its website.

It claims to have generated over $50 million in sales for its 4000+ merchants across 55 countries.

One of MENA’s largest e-commerce solution providers, designed specially for the Arabic language, ExpandCart was founded in 2013 by Amr Shawqy in Cairo, Egypt.

Till date, it claims to have created more than 10K stores, received over 190K orders, and generated more than $27 million in revenues.

It’s shipping partners network includes UPS, DHL, aramex, and FedEx. Payment partners are PayTabs, PayFort, PayPal, Visa and Mastercard. It also has more than 100 advanced integrations.

Key features include:

• Launching e-stores within 5 minutes

• Built-in mobile app builder

• Unlimited integrations

• Comprehensive support

• Marketing assistance

• Bank-grade cloud services

Founded in 2012 in Jordan, ShopGo has become a popular option for those looking to set up their online stores.

It relies upon Magento as a platform, while localising the delivery to the emerging MENA market. They are also a Google Partner, and offer analytics as part of their package.

They have a full range of themes to cater to different sectors, and each theme is pre-designed for both English and Arabic, which provide a more seamless user experience.

It allows its clients to have a free 7-day trial in addition to a consultation call. It offers three plans — Basic, Professional and Plus — to cater to different segments. Fee payment options include quarterly and yearly installments.

Features include:

• No set-up fee

• No transaction fee

• You can use your own domain name

• Sign-up and try the website for 7 days without entering credit card details

• Link your website to your e-store

• Shipping is integrated with Aramex, FedEx, UPS, DHL, One Delivery, and NEDCO

• Multiple payment methods that cater to local and international audience. They include PayPal, Skrill, 2CheckOut, OneCard, CashU, CashI, Innovate Payment, Network International, Faturah and Gate2Play.

• Supports search engine optimisation (SEO) to garner better results.