Mobile social commerce is catching the speed worldwide. In Middle East too, the phenomenon is being popularized with daily deal sites capitalizing on it by introducing mobile applications for discount seekers.
The present crescendo in daily deal industry dates back to not more than one year with the world’s big shots such as Groupon and LivingSocial to have initiated Dubai deals few months ago. And, gradually they have expanded coverage to most of the ME’s countries.
Cobone, the UAE’s leading group buying website, is enjoying the cheerful response of Emiratis to its recently introduced mobile apps that permit Dubai shopping on the go. This can be gauged from the numbers of downloads that have surpassed 10,000.
A small portion of internet users in Emirates makes online shopping. But, interestingly percentage of mobile shopping is higher than conventional internet shopping.
According to a research report by TNS, 29 per cent of consumers made shopping via smartphones as compared to 26 per cent who did it on personal computers.
So when Cobone Dubai claims that 20 per cent of its transactions would be performed on mobile phones in near future, it sounds logical.
Earlier in this move was LivingSocial that acquired Arab Gonabit to deal a blow to its archrival Groupon. The Washington D. C.’s daily deal site recorded mix responses to its mobile app.
“We see anywhere between 4 and 12 per cent, depending on the market,” The National cited Sohrab Jahanbani, the head of sales and operations at LivingSocial Middle East, as saying.
“What would surprise you is that in a market like Lebanon, we’re seeing more than 10 per cent of our transactions come from iPhones. In the UAE, we’re seeing about five per cent [via mobile].”
In view of the above figures, one can surmise there is a long way to go when buyers in Middle East will prefer fetching Dubai deals from mobile phones over other shopping channels.
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