DUBAI — As the posh e-commerce panorama within the Center East evolves, homegrown favourite Ounass goals to remain forward of the curve.
The e-tailer payments itself because the area’s main on-line vacation spot for high-end vogue, magnificence and life-style. Boasting 35 p.c year-on-year progress, Ounass maintains a eager deal with the wants of consumers within the area, Eda Kuloglu, chief merchandising officer, stated in an unique interview.
On Wednesday, the corporate unveiled its newest enterprise: Ounass Maison. The primary everlasting bodily vacation spot for the model is a sublime VIP private buying area tucked inside Dubai’s luxurious Mandarin Oriental Lodge.
“Ounass Maison permits us to attach with our most loyal prospects in a significant manner,” Kuloglu stated.
Ounass Maison has a living-room really feel.
Courtesy of Ounass
The corporate’s dedication to remaining a digital pure participant is unwavering. The maison is an extension of the model’s core mission to serve prospects higher. “The area gives an enhanced expertise,” she stated. “It’s about creating a way of discovery and exclusivity that maybe can’t be replicated on-line.”
Guests to the buying area can bask in non-public styling and becoming consultations in addition to browse curated collections in an expansive living-room setting, a personalised expertise that brings the net assortment to life. “Our aim has all the time been to anticipate the evolving wants and needs of the Center Japanese client,” Kuloglu stated. “We’re all the time in search of new methods to raise the buying expertise and convey our prospects one thing they will’t discover wherever else.”
The Mandarin Oriental, located on the seaside within the Jumeirah neighborhood, attracts high-profile vacationers and can be a key landmark for native clientele. The situation helps the corporate faucet into Dubai’s retail tourism market by providing its common two-hour supply service on the location.
Ounass, which was launched in 2016 by Al Tayer Insignia, invested closely in hyper-fast supply from the onset, providing two- to three-hour service in its house market, the United Arab Emirates, and now in Saudi Arabia. This was a game-changer for a area accustomed to lengthy wait occasions for on-line orders. Its present common supply time within the UAE is 89 minutes. The corporate has 4 million month-to-month lively customers, and a mean sale of $550 per order, excluding magnificence.
Creating frictionless customer support at each contact level has confirmed to be a really worthwhile mannequin for the corporate and helped fend off competitors from worldwide e-commerce gamers additionally working available in the market. Because the panorama turns into more and more aggressive, Ounass continues to deal with innovation to assist keep its place because the market chief. Cue Ounass Maison: “Whether or not it’s having fun with seamless service, discovering the most recent must-have manufacturers or accessing unique experiences, we would like Ounass to be the go-to vacation spot,” Kuloglu stated.
One of many roomy becoming cabins on the Ounass Maison VIP buying hub.
Courtesy of Ounass
Ounass has additionally benefited from unique model partnerships and complementary bodily pop-up activations that drive engagement. It launched Skims within the Center East, which loved a extremely profitable pop-up on the seaside in December 2020, full with an Instagram-worthy set up and complimentary treats for customers.
“We realized our prospects beloved with the ability to uncover and store the gathering in particular person,” Kuloglu stated. “It created an actual sense of exclusivity and neighborhood.” Different common activations have been executed in collaboration with Concern of God, Kith and Amina Muaddi.
Whereas being a digital pure participant is significant to the model identification of Ounass, creating distinctive experiences that mix merchandise, leisure, and meals and beverage parts has develop into an essential a part of the corporate.
The Ounass X Amina Muaddi pop-up.
Courtesy of Ounass
Kuloglu stated securing manufacturers solely available in the market has been an important technique. Her staff scours the world to convey merchandise and collections to the Center East, giving prospects entry to new and rising manufacturers. “My staff are at the moment in Vietnam scouting manufacturers as a result of we see the urge for food right here is powerful for a few of the newer up to date manufacturers from there that we have now found,” she stated.
Kuloglu stated being based mostly within the Center East gives a deep market understanding, permitting Ounass to tailor the model choice and experiences for every nation within the area. Key occasions like Ramadan, which can begin in February subsequent 12 months, are peak gross sales durations for the corporate and are marked by adjustments in buying conduct.
“We see a major improve in exercise in the course of the vacation,” Kuloglu stated, noting prospects are extra engaged in the course of the one-month interval of fasting. “Purchases are increased, even late at night time, as they get up for suhoor (the pre-dawn meal).” Ounass adjusts its supply occasions till 5 a.m. in markets like Saudi Arabia and the UAE throughout these durations to accommodate distinctive buying patterns.
Modest put on is a class that sees robust efficiency throughout Ramadan. Ounass has unique collections from regional modest-wear manufacturers which can be extremely wanted by prospects throughout this era. “There’s much less worth sensitivity as prospects look to indulge in the course of the holy month,” she stated.