Some have realized many Internet start-ups have been poping out and around Kuwait, examples are Taw6eel.com, Click n Buy and the flower shop. Is Kuwait ready for such a transition from the brick and mortar shop into a virtual store? yes and a long time ago too. But the trick is understanding why E-commerce came into effect in the first place was due to geographic scale. If looking at the problem from an American perspective, you may figure its much profitable for a store in New York city to sell to a customer in Seattle( increasing reach) . But how can such characteristics transulate to Kuwait when we can go from one end to the other in 2 hours, compared to the 7 hours flight from one part of the states to the other. So the major factor of the Internet just blow out of the window in Kuwait but it seems that its working. The major secret of Kuwaiti websites success or increasing in presence is the weather! Our weather in Kuwait plays a major role in the retail business. If the store is not in a mall and is outside facing the elements, it would become a challenge just to enjoy shopping. The other major part is price sensitivity, a certain age group of Kuwaiti residents are not price sensitive and are automatically put in a certain eduction level that accepting a purchase from the Internet is a blessing more than a hassle and a challenge for other. But again we still see the traditional stores of jam3iyha stuff or flowers being sold, nothing creative yet. But as time has its way, more creative online shops will pop and even become more successful than most brick and mortar business.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 11th, 2007 at 2:10 pm and is filed under E-commerce & Internet, Startups. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.