Country’s leading web-based shopping platform unveils plans to become the UAE’s first pure online marketplace, using its infrastructure to support local entrepreneurs
AWOK.com, the UAE’s leading online shopping platform, has announced it will make the transformation from selling products via its website to becoming a fully-fledged online marketplace by Q1 2016.
The transition will take place over the next 12 months commencing with AWOK.com’s Gulf-based market, followed by a roll-out of operations internationally.
“It’s no revelation that e-commerce is the future of sales,” says Ulugbek Yuldashev, Managing Director of AWOK.com. “With this in mind we have taken the strategic decision to move away from our current position as platform where buyers purchase our own goods; and instead we will become a ‘pure marketplace’ in the truest sense of the term i.e. an online forum on which an individual can sell a variety of products, from electronics and eyewear to clothes and cakes.” In doing so, the Dubai-based online retail giant will play a central role in supporting the e-commerce community, in particular local entrepreneurs.
The site is well-established within the Middle East with over one million active users in the UAE alone. Yuldashev says this credibility and trustworthiness will be a huge bonus to smaller companies and individual vendors who may lack the financial resources and marketing know-how to compete effectively in the marketplace.
“We see huge demand every month from people wanting to sell their products and services via AWOK.com,” he continues. “Our expertise, reputation and in-depth market knowledge means we can offer buyers and sellers a secure online platform for financial transactions and data storage, which in turn will provide a valuable boost to the region’s e-commerce sector.”