Noon, the Dubai-based ecommerce platform founded by Mohamed Alabbar and backed by Saudi Public Investment Fund has announced a partnership with eBay, one of the largest ecommerce platforms in the world.
The partnership will allow customers in UAE & Saudi Arabia to buy top selling eBay products from the United States and other parts of the world directly on Noon. Noon will take care of fulfillment and delivery, according to a statement by the company. The returns will also be processed and facilitated by Noon, so the customers will have the option to return the products in UAE & Saudi and Noon will refund the money, based on their terms and conditions.
Customers will be able to use the service from second half of 2018 through a dedicated app and website.
Speaking about the partnership, Mohamed Alabbar, founder of Noon, said, “Noon is connecting the region with the global e-commerce market through our partnership with eBay. With this, we are offering our customers access to products that are not otherwise readily available in the region. As brand from that is from the region, we listen to our customers and tailor the online retail experience to suit their needs. Our partnership with eBay opens a whole new world of shopping experience.”
“E-commerce continuously evolves, and this partnership guarantees noon stays on top of the trends and consumer preferences,” he added.
This could turn out to be a great partnership for both the parties as Noon tries to bring a global selection of products on its platform to fight Souq and eBay expands into a new market without having any presence there. Many eBay products have been available for UAE, Saudi and even rest of the countries with international shipping option but the Noon partnership makes it easier for customers esp. with the option of returns.
eBay is trying to do something similar in India – where it plans to return after Flipkart’s acquisition by Walmart. The company has said that it will launch in India to focus on cross-border sales, “selling into India from abroad, and from India to other markets.”
Earlier they were focused on domestic sales before selling their business to Flipkart for a for a stake in the Indian ecommerce company.
