You might want to get to grips with speaking Arabic as Amazon Egypt has now launched. Previously selling through Souq.com, Amazon invited sellers to register for Amazon Egypt, now live at Amazon.eg, in July, now this September the site has gone live and replaces Souq in the country.
All existing Souq customers will find that their log in details have been migrated to Amazon Egypt along with payment credential, delivery addresses and even wish lists etc.
Customers new to Amazon will find all the main categories present and correct including: Fashion; Grocery; Perfumes; Mobile Phones; Electronics; Appliances; and Home. Currently Prime isn’t available in the country but merchants can take advantage for Amazon FBA to make shipping easy, with delivery within 1-2 days and as quickly as 1-day in major metropolitan areas including Cairo and Giza.
“Today marks a proud day for Souq.com and Amazon, a day we have been working toward since the two companies came together. Amazon.eg brings together Souq.com’s local know-how and Amazon’s global expertise, something we believe will be of significant value to customers across Egypt. We’re only getting started, and we will keep innovating in ways that are meaningful to our customers, as we remain laser-focused on providing them with exceptional service, fast delivery, and great prices and selection on millions of items.”
– Omar Elsahy, Egypt Country Manager, Amazon
For merchants, the reality is that Egypt is a relatively small territory for Amazon and, coupled with the language challenges, may not be high on your list of priorities for expansion. However, if you take the region as a larger area with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, these small Amazon marketplaces do tot up to have significant numbers of customers with a high proportion being wealthy. Plus as is always the case, those that get in first will find significantly less competition and be able to establish themselves as category leaders with multiple best sellers before the rest of the world catches up.
One Response
I’m really disappointed. I decided to boycott Amazon when I found out how their employees are treated, and how many small businesses were bullied into bankruptcy . I will now boycott this version.