The Middle East private sales club MarkaVIP has doubled its monthly transactions in the third quarter of the year and attracted a record number of new members. The result, which follows aggressive regional expansion during 2011, has surpassed all growth targets for the company, signalling conviction in the MarkaVIP model and the increasing consumer demand for home grown e-commerce offerings.
MarkaVIP, which has adapted the tried-and-tested flash sales model to suit local consumers and retailers, sources excess or introductory inventory from premium brands worldwide to be sold to its private members in a limited period of time. Since its launch in Jordan and Saudi Arabia in November 2010 and expansion to the rest of the GCC and Lebanon earlier this year, MarkaVIP has cultivated a private membership approaching 700,000 users.
Even more significant is the company’s growth in online transactions. In the third quarter of 2011, MarkaVIP recorded a member-to-buyer conversion rate of 3% and a repeat purchase rate of 45%, both higher than the global e-commerce average. MarkaVIP says the results are an indication of consumer confidence in its model, the products that it offers as well as in the company’s ability to deliver on promise.
“Our recent business milestones demonstrate a very positive response from consumers and suppliers to MarkaVIP’s offering, and confirms the strong e-commerce appetite that exists across the region. Three months ago we were generating seven figure monthly revenues – this has now doubled and our growth trajectory shows further increases still. We believe these results make us the fastest growing and best performing e-commerce company in the region,” said Ahmed Alkhatib, Founder & CEO, MarkaVIP.
MarkaVIP’s strongest performing market during the third quarter was Saudi Arabia, accounting for 40% of the company’s total sales. The rest of the GCC countries comprised 35% of sales, while Jordan and Lebanon represented the remaining 25%. More than half of those total sales (60%) were made on MarkaVIP’s Arabic language platform, highlighting its growing popularity among Arabic-speaking consumers.
The highest value transactions were made by consumers in the UAE with members spending an average of $140 per purchase on MarkaVIP. Across the region men and women’s apparel and accessories were among the most popular items sold, followed closely by homewares.
Demand for the platform among suppliers is also increasing with over 500 brands having run flash sales on MarkaVIP since launch and hundreds more joining each month. MarkaVIP’s role as a launch pad for new-to-region labels is proving particularly attractive to brands wanting to introduce and test and their products in the Middle East without having to invest in the offline business infrastructure.
“Our proof of consumer performance is really making suppliers sit up and take notice of the MarkaVIP proposition. We have been inundated with requests from leading regional and international brands to use our platform to either introduce their products to a discerning Middle East audience or to tap our exclusive membership to move their excess stock without compromising their brand’s equity. People in great numbers are now benefitting from the value, quality and convenience of shopping online at MarkaVIP,” added Alkhatib.
Against a backdrop of rising digital competence in the Middle East, AlKhatib maintains the untapped growth potential of MarkaVIP remains huge.
“The Arab Spring showed us how digitally savvy the Middle East had become in leveraging social media and mobile platforms for protests and organised resistance. But far more profound is the long-term economic significance of this digital capability through e-commerce. The region’s increasing Internet penetration combined with its considerable purchasing power has the potential to contribute greatly to global online spend. We anticipate exponential growth for MarkaVIP over the coming months,” he said.
