Online apps provide instant window to Saudi businesswomen

JEDDAH: Many women sharing their successful commerce on Instagram have been able to overcome social limitations that surround women’s activities in many areas.
Women have been able to successfully market their products such as confectionary, food, clothing and handicrafts, while others have been able to grow their small businesses, that began on social media, and transform them into concrete and successful entities.
Competitors in the Saudi market feel threatened by the success of women using social media in the business world. Many claim that their marketing of products on Instagram is illegal as they do not have commercial business licenses and work from their homes outside any legal framework.
According to Ola Rajab, the young director of Hijazi House, marketing her Hijazi hospitality business on Instagram allowed her to achieve high sales, in turn demonstrating that the trend toward e-commerce is giving women substantial space for success and profit.
She said women are also able to invest their talents in cooking and handicrafts to make money with minimal losses, as they do not need expensive spaces and costly decorations, but only an account on Instagram or other social media sites.
According to Rajab, many women began to exercise trade and commerce on social media as a secondary source of income to their main jobs, but with time began to see their income from such activities far exceeding their employment salaries.
She explained that image quality plays a major role in promoting products, noting that her experience on Instagram allowed her to gain many followers and receives numerous likes. As for Snapchat, she said this portal has become a competitor to Instagram, causing Instagram “likes” to decline by about 10 percent. She said she also participates in formal events and festivals.
In the field of fashion, well-known designer Ghada Abed says she found unexpected popularity among followers in the field of fashion, receiving offers from large companies and gaining new customers inside and outside the Kingdom. She said the vast majority of women are looking for new fashion trends, good quality material, and well-designed products, especially after the increase in poor quality and poor material in products.
Roaa Ramadan, an English-language graduate, says her income from selling French confectionary on Instagram is consistently growing. Over the past three years, she says her success has grown by close to 95 percent as a result of marketing her products on Instagram, without the constraints associated with commercial rent and license fees.
According to her, e-commerce is appropriate for her social condition, as she is a mother and a wife who must look after her family.
In the field of perfumery, Alia Abdullah says she owns a shop at a commercial center, but her shop has not always achieved the desired success so she turned to Instagram to market her products to customers inside and outside the country. E-commerce is both profitable and comfortable, and boosts the economy, especially as many women surf the Net daily for new and top-quality products, she says.