LONDON: Middle East online retailer Noon.com is expanding into Asia with plans to enter the groceries delivery sector in China during the next six months.
The $1 billion e-commerce platform is looking to build a network of brand owners in China and connect them to Middle East customers.
“We spotted a gap in the market for high-quality Chinese products,” said Faraz Khalid, CEO of Noon.
“We want to work with the best selection of marketplace suppliers, a set of reliable, high quality sellers, to bring their inventory to customers in the Middle East,” he told Arab News.
The company has also announced plans to open two new entities in China.
“We’re looking to partner with top brand owners and marketplace platforms to help us curate a wider and more diverse assortment of products for our customers in the Middle East,” said Noon.com founder Mohammed Alabbar.
Representatives from the company have been building relationships in the Chinese market with a view to expanding logistics capabilities on the ground and acquiring office space there in the future.
“We understand that Noon will be looking to have goods delivered by the brand holders themselves, or will have to have a number of local depots in China, which should help them boost their business further,” said Vadym Gurevych, managing director of e-commerce company Holbi Group.
Noon’s plans to accommodate e-commerce payment methods that are already being used by the Chinese public will make purchases “easy and straightforward for Chinese customers,” he added.
The company is working with a leading financial services provider to develop efficient and effective payment solutions.
During an interview with CNN’s John Defterios, Alabbar, who co-founded the company with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund last year, expanded on plans to reach further afield.
“I think we should not be very shy even to look a little bit east,” he said. “We should really look at Pakistan and countries like that … And I think if you were to go to North Africa, the same thing, the base is quite good in that area as well.”
The Riyadh-based company, which was was set up to provide an “Arabic-first” e-commerce platform and tap into the region’s burgeoning online retail market, competes with Dubai-based Souq.com, which was purchased by Amazon in 2017 for $650 million.
Last year Noon partnered with eBay to provide customers with access to products in a wider range of markets.
