Love is in the air, and profit is on the horizon for the eCommerce industry this Valentine’s Day. Billions of dollars are spent globally as consumers look for romantic gifts to buy their loved ones. The National Retail Federation (NRF) reported that in the US alone, people spent a hefty $23.9Bn in 2022. Make no mistake, Valentine’s Day is a window of opportunity to increase sales and a chance to build and retain more loyal customers.

There is no denying that connected commerce is becoming increasingly competitive. However, considering that online shopping is predicted to become a chatty experience in 2023, you must take a well-thought-out approach to stay competitive. Having the proper licensing, reliability, and using tools and features related to digital commerce is essential to success as a digital business.

Connected or chat commerce, also known as cCommerce is increasing and will continue to grow as long as shoppers adapt to online shopping habits. Popular social media platforms are investing in adapting to new trends in social commerce to gain speed to market and seamlessly sell. What are some of the most important social commerce tactics?

COVID really changed the shopping game. In the past two years, businesses everywhere saw an unprecedented surge in online shopping- just ask Jeff Besos. If businesses didn’t have social media accounts they created one, and others turned to open platforms to create their own online stores. Everyone thought that brick and mortar shopping will remain dead after life returns to normal (whatever normal means these days.) However, if H1 of 2022 is any indication, people obviously still love to physically go shopping and browse window shops.

Did you know that there’s a 40 percent gap between male and female ownership of businesses in the MENA region? And, that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says that barriers towards jobs and careers for women are costing the region $575 billion a year?

Freelancers and SMEs expect online selling to be efficient and profitable. Making money sounds interesting, but processing it is quite difficult. However, freelancers and SMEs encounter many challenges with the traditional payment gateways, which can create complexities and lead them to search for local payment alternatives that accept online payments. In this article, we will list some of the main challenges small businesses encounter with traditional payment gateways and local banks:

No one can anticipate what the future holds but as time passes, we can look back at key decisions we have made and assess the impact they had on our present selves. 7 years ago, I took one of those decisions and joined a team of two people who had a vision. Straight out of college, I sprung onto the opportunity not knowing how strongly that decision will shape my career and who I am today. “We want to build an app that helps and serves SMEs, an underserved sector in the market”- Ramy CEO of Zbooni.

Two weeks ago, I was in Beirut visiting my parents. One day, my mom and I decided to go shopping - she needed a few summer dresses and my friend had told me about a shop in a tucked away street in Ashrafieh. At first, it looked like any other clothing store: jeans on the shelves, t-shirts hung on the rails in the back, a summer sale collection on the right. As we walked in, we were greeted by two sales ladies. My mom tried on a few dresses and as were debating if the dress is a perfect fit or not, Nadine (one of the sales ladies) came over and pinched the dress on the sides: “it needs a cm or two on each side, I’ll get that marked and fixed for you,” she simply said. I looked around and I heard Mary (the other sales lady) chatting to what seemed like a regular customer because she was asking her about her daughter. Nadine took such good care of my mom, she was attentive, nice, welcoming and kept showing her dresses and telling her not to worry about the adjustments: everything can be fixed to size. My mom bought four dresses and I recommended the store to three other friends. The experience reminded me of how shopping was before big malls, fast fashion and the internet.

Winning new customers can be difficult and expensive. That’s why many businesses put so much emphasis on retaining existing customers, and expanding the lifetime value they can achieve from them. Remarketing is all about keeping your existing customers engaged, and increasing the conversion possibilities. When done correctly, it can make all the difference to your business. It is no surprise that, today, more than 56% of companies use remarketing strategy to regain or retain customers\*.

Advertisements were mainly what we saw during T.V commercials, in newspapers, free press and magazines. Businesses paid big money to get a 15 second primetime slot on a popular T.V station or a full page in a widely distributed newspaper. It made sense since that was one of the only effective ways businesses could reach their target audience at that time. Today, however, things are a little different. The era of smartphones, social media and social commerce is causing an array of changes that is disrupting and revolutionizing how businesses find, reach and communicate with their target audience.

Many businesses wonder if they should adopt cCommerce to their day to day business activities and use it as a channel to reach and increase sales. Connected commerce (CC), is the use of chat and social applications by businesses to reach customers and convert sales. Today with chat being the most used feature in the world and chat bots being the topic of the year, CC is an inevitable development that most businesses will want to utilize. But the question remains, is it really worth adopting?

Online sales in MENA are expected to exceed $50 billion by the end of this year, making this region one of the most exciting emerging markets. The impact of the pandemic, digital transformation initiatives by brands and improvements in logistics and last mile delivery have vastly contributed to double-digit growth. Saudi Arabia is leading the way in terms of regional e-commerce growth (39 per cent CAGR) just ahead of UAE (38 per cent CAGR). However, a less talked about phenomenon driving this seismic shift is the rapidly changing consumer behaviors and attitudes towards retail in an omnichannel world.

Technically, both product and service based businesses sell a “product” but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re really doing much selling. Competition has never been higher and consumer trends have been shifting from loyalty-based purchases to value-focused ones. In other words, people are caring less about who you are and more about how much they believe they’re getting back for their dollar. There are a few things that businesses can do to increase perceived value but the easiest and probably most effective solution is providing a prominent customer service experience.

Businesses used to rely heavily on paper-based invoicing to handle payments, which is both expensive and time consuming. The hassle of generating, sending, and tracking invoices can be a heavy burden for small business owners. However, businesses are switching to mobile invoicing platforms for easy payment collection, better customer service, centralized storage, and invoice reconciliation.

Millennials, a quick googled definition describes the term as “a person reaching young adulthood in the early 21st century.” Consumers between the ages of 21 to 35 spend $600 billion annually in the US alone. So it’s safe to say that this generation has an undeniable impact on today’s market and will continue to do so for at least the next 35 years. That is why it is vital that businesses understand the drivers behind the shopping habits and preferences that millennials have to better cater and prepare for them.