Awok.com -Blog: awokdotcom

Showing posts with label awokdotcom. Show all posts

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Rise of E-commerce in UAE written by one of the linkedin user Jomin Varghese

As stated by Dubai chamber “The e-commerce market in the UAE is currently valued at $2.5 billion, which is expected to touch $10 billion by 2018” we can rightly say that the E-business is on the ascent in the UAE, this was emphasized in a most recent statement by Sarwant Singh, senior partner and practice director at Frost & Sullivan that Internet spending in the Middle East is booming with GCC countries expecting a 40 per cent growth in eCommerce by 2020 it will be right to say that five in ten individuals shop over the web for different items and products. UAE has dependably been a customer arranged business sector, with shopping centers and shopping outlets being a noteworthy highlight for the individuals.

The developing pattern of web shopping in UAE with such quality mirrors the requirement for accommodation and assortment being a developing inclination among the shoppers. The development and advancement of innovation and online frameworks has driven organizations to convey products and administrations on the web, which permits clients to shop, with a couple taps on their electronic gadgets particularly cell phones. UAE based online shopping AWOK.com, that has recently hit its two-year mark in April 2015, boasts of its a phenomenal 500% increase in sales compared to its first year of trading.

With UAE having one of the most elevated portable infiltration rates, shoppers are being coordinated towards making buys online and maintaining a strategic distance from the exertion of going to shopping centers and retail locations. The length of clients are certain that the internet shopping medium has no security issues and there is trust in the installment routines, clients are slanted towards shopping on the web.

Shopping Trend in UAE

A recent workshop held in Dubai by Shop Go. It reveals that the e-commerce sector in the UAE is worth around $2.5bn, representing 55% of the GCC's total e-commerce market.

ShopGo. CEO also suggested that "People are realising the potential of e-commerce and they are slowly gaining a better understanding of the needs of the business. We utilise these workshops to provide those with an interest in the industry and potential projects with the right information and tools required to put their great ideas into practice,"

Ulugbek Yuldashev, Managing Director of AWOK.com. Advocates the trust that internet shoppers have on their online shopping platform. He says “Our consumers already understand that online shopping is safe, easy and fast”

Three of the most imperative variables influencing internet shopping are, availability, Reliability and mechanical mindfulness.

Availability

Availability assumes a urgent part for customers to start web shopping, on the grounds that it gives them a stage to scan different items, come close costs, read surveys lastly arrange with a tick of a couple catches and have the organization convey it to their doorstep.

Availability can be seen in numerous measurements, from the outline and interface of the site, which makes searching simpler and more pleasurable to having more alternatives for exchange. These are all variables of comfort which encourage the client.

Reliability

There must be a sure level of Reliability in the psyche of the client when he or she is making an exchange on a site. Clients are regularly disheartened when shopping online in light of the fact that they are not certain of who may be at the flip side, or whether its safe to share individual subtle elements and card numbers on a specific site.

Clients ought to be given a feeling that all is well with the world by guaranteeing a protected medium furthermore be furnished with online client administration and bolster which empowers them to converse with a client administration delegate before sharing their card points of interest, individual contact data or help them on the off chance that they oblige any further item data or help. This assembles reliability while working together on the web.

Innovative Consciousness

Innovative mindfulness is one of the central point that have added to the increment in internet shopping, particularly because of cell phones supplanting PCs.

Awok.com takes pride as its Managing Director, Ulugbek Yuldashev makes a note on this aspect. He says that “with our new mobile application users will be able to order must-have products directly from their mobile devices”

The customers of UAE are progressively twisting towards internet shopping as they turn out to be all the more mechanically prepared and expert the utilization of cell phones. With UAE having the locale's most astounding web entrance and cell phone proprietorship rate, eMarketer estimates that nearly 73% of the UAE population uses mobile phones which puts UAE on No.1 spot in MENA region,

eMarketer also estimates that smart phone users rate will rise from current 64.6% to 74.6% by 2018 These figures alone help us anticipate future development of e-business in UAE with an expanding client contribution.

What's in store?

The fate of e-trade is brilliant in the UAE with the steady presentation of new applications and more decisions being made accessible for clients why should looking buy merchandise and administrations on the web. With the slow increment in the pattern, organizations need to concentrate on their client benefit and incorporate it into their sites so they don't lose potential clients and agents are there to help clients at all times.

Organizations need to concentrate on conveying quality client benefit 24/7 on their sites so their clients are furnished with a casual and pleasurable client experience when shopping on the web. Giving quality support of online customers won't just result in an increment in deals and an energy to buy items however in the end only this is eventually going to lead to consumer loyalty and dependability.

Source:awok.co/wEvVCf

Website:www.awok.com

Posted By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Apple says 'Apple Watch,' the world says 'i Watch'

Many consumers still think of Apple's first smartwatch as the 'iWatch,' as evidenced by a recent trip to San Francisco for a wearable technology conference. The branding confusion represents at least a minor marketing misstep for Apple.

"Is that the iWatch?"

Early on an unseasonably brisk morning last week, a purposefully stern TSA agent in the JetBlue terminal of the Boston's Logan International Airport posed that question after I used my Apple Watch as a boarding pass and moved through security on the way to a wearable technology conference in San Francisco.

state of cios

State of the CIO 2015

More than 500 top IT leaders responded to our online survey to help us gauge the state of the READ NOW I considered the question for a moment, showed a hint of smile and said simply, "Yeah, it is," even though the nit-picky editor in me wanted to inform the gentlemen that it's an Apple Watch, not an iWatch. Had I chosen to correct the agent — it's never a good idea to correct a man in uniform, by the way — my efforts would have been futile. For better or worse, the Apple Watch is still the iWatch to lots of people, thanks in no small part to the seemingly endless deluge of "iWatch rumor" stories that led up to Apple's official announcement last fall.

The TSA example is just one of many instances during the past week in which I watched complete strangers refer to the Apple Watch as the iWatch. The second incident occurred on the same day, inside an infamous beer bar in San Francisco's Lower Haight neighborhood, called Toronado. The surly, tattooed bartender was showing his Apple Watch to another patron, and I overheard the barfly refer to it multiple times as an iWatch. (The bartender didn't correct him either.)

A couple of days later, I called Capital One customer service to activate Apple Pay on my Watch. After I successfully answered a handful of security questions and verified my identity, the bubbly female representative said, "Congratulations on your iWatch! Enjoy using Apple Pay."

At the Wearable World Congress event, the Apple Watch was front and center, and guess what? More than a few attendees unconsciously referred to the smartwatch as the iWatch.

In other words, Apple appears to have a slight branding issue.

If the company had its way, the Apple Watch might have been the next great iProduct, falling in line with the iMac, iBook, iTunes, iPod, iPhone and iPad. Apple even filed for trademark on the name "iWatch" in a number of countries, including Columbia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Taiwan and Turkey, according to 9to5Mac.com.

Other entities have attempted to trademark the term in the United States and Europe during the past years, according to CNBC, and Swiss watchmaker Swatch, initiated a few different legal filings to block the use of the name iWatch, which it says is too similar to its trademarked "iSwatch" name.

Apple is a marketing and branding juggernaut. It puts just as much energy and attention to detail into the way it presents its products as it does designing them to function as seamlessly as possible. And its failure to secure and use the name iWatch seems like an unfortunate misstep for a marketing team that doesn't make many of them.

Of course, the fact that lots of folks are calling Apple's first smartwatch the iWatch, even though that is not its name, isn't really a big deal. The name won't significantly affect sales, and it also won't fix many of the software bugs spotted by early users. (My Apple Watch's fitness tracking features pale in comparison to my Fitbit, and in some cases don't work at all, for instance.)

Regardless, I can't remember the last time I saw a technology product on par with the Apple Watch so frequently "misidentified" in the market, and it's hard to believe Apple didn't see this branding confusion coming — or do something more to avoid it.

Source:awok.co/sCz5n7

Check Apple Watch or iWatch price in UAE

Website: www.awok.com

Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Popular cooking appliances make meal prep easy for busy home cooks

Whether you’re the best home chef or just the busiest, everyone can use a bit of electric assistance in the kitchen. Rice cookers, steamers, slow cookers and more can cut prep time without cutting back on flavour.

“The manufacturers have given some weight to the fact that a lot of people, they don’t want to have these big oversize pieces,” says KC Lapiana, owner of In The Kitchen. “I think that the manufacturers have spent some time thinking about the profiles of the products and making them not only efficient, but a little bit smaller.”

Slow cookers, for one, are enjoying a resurgence in popularity, especially among younger consumers, says Mary Beth Brault, group manager of corporate and consumer communications at Hamilton Beach. Advancements in technology mean some models are more adaptable to your schedule, and they can be programmed to go into a “keep warm” mode to prevent overcooking.

“Slow cookers certainly picked up in momentum about five years ago when the economy started to go down,” Brault says. “The beauty of a slow cooker is that you can take a cheap piece of meat and turn it into a delicious meal.”

Lapiana recommends “multi-cookers,” which perform slow cooking, rice steaming and pressure-cooking without the hassle of three separate devices.

Rice cookers can also provide convenience for home cooks. “It’s changed in the ease of making rice and getting the right water-to-rice ratio,” Brault says. “And it really allows you to multitask better in the kitchen.” Some models double as food steamers, too.

Immersion blenders are another easy, timesaving kitchen tool ideal for soups and sauces, Lapiana says. “You don’t have to cut up everything into small pieces anymore, just roughly chop them; I’m talking the garlic and the tomatoes. Once they’re cooked through, you put in the immersion blender and it makes it all smooth.”

Source: awok.co/sAPcF5
Buy Home Appliances
Website: www.awok.com
Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Mobile Apps: Is Arabic less popular in UAE?

Saudi leads the list in terms of popularity of Arabic apps

Arabic mobile applications are downloaded far too fewer times in the United Arab Emirates compared to any other country in the region.

Saudi Arabia leads the list in terms of popularity of Arabic apps. About 89 per cent of people in the kingdom download Arabic apps regularly compared to just about 39 per cent in the UAE.

Well, before you can come to any conclusions about the language preference here, the result is a reflection of the cosmopolitan culture and a large presence of expat population in the UAE.

The results were revealed by Nader Kobeissi, Managing Director Mena of On Device Research on the sidelines of the ongoing two-day Arabnet Digital Summit 2015 in Dubai.

“Dubai’s numbers are low, simply because of the large number of expat population and a very active app download pattern among Westerners and Europeans,” says Kobeissi.

“About 70 per cent of Westerners, including Europeans download more than 5 apps in a month and did so during the past month and these are mostly apps in English,” he said.

The popularity of Arabic apps among the Arabs in the UAE, however, continue to remain high, at about 68 per cent and on par with Egypt. In Jordan 70 per cent of the apps downloaded are Arabic, compared to 54 per cent in Lebanon.

However, the survey also points out almost 34 per cent of those polled, which covered about 500 users from each country in the region, did prefer international apps, while about 31 to 30 per cent said they did not find what they wanted in Arabic and failed to find good quality Arabic apps.

Gaming apps continue to remain the most popular category in the region, followed by social media and music.

About the most downloaded apps, gaming related apps stood at 60 per cent, compared to 16 per cent of health and fitness related apps and 18 per cent of shopping related apps.

Utility related apps are downloaded mostly by those over 30 years – while, lifestyle, shopping and education are the three most popular categories among female mobile users.

The survey also revealed details about the nature of app purchases. “Majority of those buying apps - about 39 per cent - are doing so not because of its advanced features, but to avoid advertising,” says Kobeissi. About 37 per cent do so for additional content while, 29 per cent buy something which has been previewed on screen.

According to the survey, about 37 per cent of those buying apps go ahead and make in-app purchases and about 53 per cent don’t spend any money on buying apps and majority of them simply because there are not many interesting apps out there in the market.

“Almost 20 per cent don’t trust the payment security system, while 16 per cent cannot find what they want to buy,” he said.

Saudi Arabic again continued to lead the numbers in terms of app purchases with about 51 per cent of users having paid to download apps, compared to 41 per cent in the UAE and Lebanon.

Source: awok.co/wNilNA

Website: www.awok.com

Buy Smart Phones in UAE

Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

AWOK.com Data Shows UAE Consumers Still More Confident of Cash on Delivery Payment for Online Purchases

AWOK.com gathers data on online shopping habits for UAE consumers: infographic

In the last 12 months, UAE-based online retail specialist, awok.com, has been tracking trends in online retail habits, which clearly demonstrate that while people are comfortable with buying online, they still prefer to use cash to pay for deliveries.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150604/748224 )

"There is still a disconnect in trust for online purchase, versus online payment, as well as accessibility for card payment methods for some segments of society," says Ulugbek Yuldashev, Founder and CEO of awok.com. "However, we appreciate that not everyone wants to pay through a card, and awok.com caters to all preferences."

With the market continuing to mature quickly, males have been highlighted as the predominant force behind 'click and buy'; representing an overwhelming 76% of online shoppers. While the UAE's male-biased population certainly serves to enforce that figure, the social aspect of malls and browsing, still appeal more to the female consumer. 25-31 year-olds make up the biggest proportion at 58%.

Awok.com has seen significant response with returning customers now hitting 59%. Mobile technology plays a big role in supporting site accessibility, with a majority of customers accessing the site through their phones and smart devices. Android users are the most predominant, at 72% of shoppers, while the optimum browsing choice is Google Chrome.

For more information on AWOK, please visit http://www.awok.com

Source: awok.co/XhR4lR
Website: www.awok.com
Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Cash is still king for majority of online UAE consumers

Only 15% of consumers who buy online pay with cards

Despite all of the talk about paperless transactions, e-commerce or innovations in the financial markets, cash is still king.

The majority of consumers in the UAE are not comfortable paying their new smartphone, perfume, toilet paper and other everyday essentials with plastic, a new study suggests.

Awok.com, an online shopping store in Dubai that sells all kinds of consumer goods, from cameras, phones to kitchen appliances, has been tracking trends in the retail habits of consumers in the UAE.

The company found that among those who buy stuff online, 85 per cent would rather pay cash on delivery, while only 15 per cent opt to use their credit or debit card.

These online shoppers, majority of whom are presumably keeping a stash of cash in their wallets at all times, are mostly men (76 per cent) and between 25 years and 34 years of age.

They spend an average of Dh500 on every purchase.

While online shopping is increasingly becoming popular, consumers in the UAE are quite not ready to fully embrace the culture of cashless payments due to security concerns.

"There is still a huge disconnect in trust for online shopping versus trust for online payment," Ulugbek Yuldashev, managing director of awok.com, told Gulf News.

"Consumers are still uncomfortable sharing their banking details online due to fear of being defrauded."

As to what they mostly shop for online, statistics showed that the most searched categories are mobile phones, tablets, watches, jewellery and perfumes.

Consumers electronics, preferred by 57 per cent of the customers, top the list of popular items, followed by home and kitchen appliances (14 per cent), apparel and accessories (10 per cent), other categories (10 per cent), health and beauty products (5 per cent) and photography and cameras (4 per cent).

The majority of online customers (52 per cent) use their smartphones to shop, while a significant number (44 per cent) place orders through a desktop and a small number (4 per cent) through a tablet.

Payments experts have long noted the slow uptake of cashless payments not just in the UAE but in many markets around the world.

In 2009, 62.4 per cent of total consumer payments were made in cash, compared to 4.9 per cent for card transactions.

Experts had earlier attributed the trend to the low levels of investment in the payment systems infrastructure and concerns over credit card debt and security.

Source:awok.co/r3LmRx

Website: www.awok.com

Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Cash on Delivery is still king for majority of online UAE consumers

Dubai: Despite all of the talk about paperless transactions, e-commerce or innovations in the financial markets, cash is still king.