Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce, is now live in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Souq.com, the local e-commerce platform of the Middle East was acquired by Amazon in 2017 at a whooping exchange of $580 million. While Amazon was established in the UAE, Souq was still Souq in Saudi Arabia, until today.
“…from today we are pleased to announce that Souq.com is now Amazon.sa,” reads the homepage of the new Amazon installment. Souq.com automatically directs us to the Amazon page. Within an hour of the launch, Amazon KSA started making a buzz on Twitter as people greeted their yet another entry into the Middle East. “Welcome AmazonKSA <3” (with a red heart) tweeted Maher Almousa, while others quickly enquired about the services. “When will cash on delivery option be back,” questioned Deepa Verma.
Iman Ben Chaibah tweeted ” Great, so now @amazonksa finally launched, Last year they launched @amazonae. I think Egypt will be next? Now the golden question, when will UAE merchant’s products show for KSA customers and full purchases, and shipping can be made via amazon? and KSA to UAE? Soon I hope?”
Picture Credit: Arab News
Here’s all you need to know about Amazon KSA
- The new Amazon storehouses Souq’s local products as well as products from Amazon US.
- You can shop in Arabic on both Amazon Shopping App as well as the website.
- Amazon KSA has hired over 1,400 workforces in the region.
- Over 30 million products are available.
- Amazon KSA is headquartered in Riyadh.
What does the expansion of Amazon in the Middle East mean to noon?
(Picture credit: AMEinfo)
Noon is founded by Mohamed Alabbar, an Emirati billionaire. Ever since the inception of noon, homegrown e-commerce has emphasized the monopoly of “giant entities” taking over the booming e-commerce sector of the Middle East.
“In the region, we have a duty. We need to protect our region, we cannot let giant entities internationally take over our market,” he said at an event last year vowing that he would never sell Noon to foreign interests, regardless of the price, something he has described as aimed at protecting the national economy.
“The Middle East market of 400-million plus people without a big technology e-commerce company is not fair … We have a duty to society and businesses. It is a shame that our children don’t see us innovating and engage in technologies. We can’t just sit out to be taken over,” he added.
Noon is in fact, very tough competition to Amazon, that is one of the reasons why Amazon’s growth in the Middle East has been at a snail’s pace.
On a popular Reddit thread as to what the majority prefers, many voted for noon because of “better prices, faster delivery, and simple interface.” Noon’s delivery comes as fast as 4-6 hours the same day, while Amazon’s take time, at least 2-3 days depending on where it is shipped from.
But whatever is the case on Amazon vs. Noon, one Redditor got it right. “In conclusion, this amazon/noon war is good news for us at the end of the day, whatever they do, the customer is winning! :D,” the anonymous Redditor posted.
What to expect from Amazon KSA?
Books, electronics, facemasks, and toys are the bestsellers on Amazon, so you can expect to find all that you need on this platform.
When shopping from Amazon KSA, you can use CouponCodesME simultaneously or add the Couponbot extension to always get promo codes when shopping online.
Best Amazon KSA coupon codes
While you can stay updated here, these are the current list of best coupon offers and deals.
- Use code AMAZON15 to get 15% off on your first purchase. – Expires on July 31.
- Use code FIRST15 to get 15% off on your first purchase.
- Use code BKS15OFF to get 15% off on books.
- Get your deals on Amazon Supermarket with 40% off groceries and home care items.
- Get 20% off on health and personal care essentials.
- 12% off on the sanitizer pack.
For the deals, you simply have to activate the deal using CouponCodesME Amazon KSA.
Happy online shopping!
