Online shopping for housewarmings and weddings in Lebanon and the Middle East What is your current situation?

Why is Lebanese e-commerce so inactive?

The retail industry has evolved dramatically over the last decade. Shoppers are no longer constrained by the physical presence of inventory, nor are they forced to venture out in their overheating cars, getting stuck in hours of traffic, only to discover that the crowded mall has run out of their favorite item.

E-commerce has allowed users to buy anything they want with the click of a few buttons and a couple of days of delivery time. Lebanon, with its increasing internet and credit card penetration, as well as its modern, tech-savvy shoppers, should be an early adopter of e-commerce from the region! However, Lebanon is still heavily reliant on physical shopping, while online shopping only gets a second (third, fourth, or fifth) thought. So why has e-commerce in Lebanon and the Middle East lagged behind the rest of the world? Below are the top three reasons why Lebanese e-commerce has been struggling to catch up:

1- Lack of viable payment portals:

The country has two relatively outdated payment gateways that do not integrate with the websites. As such, customers are directed to external links and required to re-enter their credit card details for each purchase. This is highly impractical and reduces the ease of second purchases.

Adding to the outdated nature of payment gateways, they have a monopoly on the market and charge exorbitant fees: $350-$500 initiation fee, 3.5-4.0% transaction fees, as well as $350 “maintenance” costs. 35-$50 per month. .

Furthermore, the lack of Paypal and other online payment gateways in Lebanon creates an immense challenge for e-commerce companies.

“Ease of checkout” is ranked as one of the highest conversion factors for eCommerce businesses. Lebanon offers lousy options and therefore online businesses struggle to offer dynamic options such as one-click shopping and Paypal.

2- Lack of online shopping practices:

Most of the e-commerce startups in the Middle East have been established to cater to the “trendy” and “hip” crowd. They offer flash sales of high-priced designer items, indexing of unique local boutique designers, or niche gift items that cater to niche consumers. In addition, the “old guard” of e-commerce in Lebanon offers the typical online gift selections: flowers, chocolates, teddy bears and other “unique” emotional gifts.

With the exception of a very few sites, most Lebanese websites have a very basic design with little attention to practicality and detail. Popup menus are impractical, data entry is challenging, and most products are unsearchable.

Examples of these “old guard” websites are:

Exotic flowers: This site charges high shipping costs, overcharges for their bouquets, and tends to deliver smaller and cheaper bouquets than what they promise online (has happened to me multiple times!). Also, they only deliver flowers! They are one of the highest ranking e-commerce sites in Lebanon with 1.3 million globally (www.alexa.com). They also take credit for adopting the online delivery system early, though they haven’t felt the need to improve due to the lack of a major competitor.

Buy Lebanese: Colors, fonts, sizes, photos and charts are not user friendly. However, they rank pretty high on Alexa.com: 2.5 million globally. This group takes credit for being an early adopter of e-commerce in Lebanon! Top hat to your foresight!

961 gifts: I’m not sure of the name of the website, the layout looks basic, but the menu items are clear. Its product strategy is largely based on non-brand flowers, perfumes, cosmetics and accessories: global ranking of 4.2 million.

Examples of the newer “niche consumer” sites are:

lebelik, Eezmeez, VIP brand

Some of the newer websites have focused on great design and have achieved relative success in the modern and young markets. However, apart from Marka VIP, which is based in Dubai, none have really managed to reach a large enough market.

3- Buying power is in the expat community

Businesses that focus on local online buying power will struggle in the short term. Let’s hope this changes as Lebanon progresses (with a little luck). However, until then, the purchasing power of Lebanese e-commerce sites will come from the Lebanese expat community looking to offer gifts to their families and loved ones in Lebanon. This creates quite a challenging market for eCommerce businesses. How do you address your diaspora? Who is your target consumer? Is the market oversaturated with unique gifts like chocolates, flowers, and niche designer items?

How to fill the void

As such, we identified a need to establish a well-priced, practical website that provides customers with quality, practical options for gifts or personal use. The reasons why I believe that such a model will overcome the challenges of the sector are:

a- Payment gateway technology will inevitably improve, along with market confidence in online payment

b- The market is saturated with unique gift items that normally fall under flowers, chocolates and traditional gift items. Therefore, competition is minimal.

c- The market has seen high-quality designer boutiques appear online, but these only cater to a niche market segmentation. Highlighting the fact that online shopping adoption is on the rise

d- There is no website that offers practical and useful gifts for the home with high-quality branded items.

Soon, there is a gap in well-priced, high-quality branded items online in the Middle East and Lebanon. There is a gap in websites offering quality housewares like Riedel, Nambe, Pip Studio, Bodum, Greenpan, Images D’Orient, Voluspa, as well as many other global brands. Instead of sending flowers, chocolates, or high-priced niche products, wouldn’t the consumer like to have an online option to:

a- Housewarming gifts in Lebanon

b- Marriage records in Lebanon

c- Wedding gifts to Lebanon

d- Lebanese gifts that do not include cheap Chinese goods, high-priced niche items, or flowers and chocolates!

Thank you!