In UAE’s online retail, direct-to-consumer brand channels are starting to get busy

In UAE’s online retail, direct-to-consumer brand channels are starting to get busy

Consumers continue to adopt and buy on online retail channels, which now contributes more than 12 per cent of the UAE’s total retail, or $8 billion in sales in 2021. Online marketplaces have captured a big portion of the online market as they provide economies of scale in marketing, logistics and technology. Offline brands have historically trusted these marketplaces for their own online sales, especially during the pandemic when speed of go-to-market was more important than at any time in the past. However, relying on marketplaces alone can result in limited control over end-to-end consumer experience for brands and retailers because of lack of sufficient consumer data, limited brand loyalty and higher commissions. Furthermore, consumers are becoming more nuanced and demanding in what they want. For example, product discovery which was traditionally done via online search is now moving to own brand websites and social media. Pricing, product variety, loyalty programmes and delivery experience are increasingly important. These factors are easier to control if you have higher control of the channel. A direct-to-consumers (D2C) route can help address these challenges and also eliminates the challenges of trust and authenticity of products. In D2C, brands create an app or website to