E-commerce tech firm Unicommerce expands in Gulf, starts Saudi operations

E-commerce was worth $8.3 billion in 2017 in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and is expected to more than triple by 2022 to reach $28.5 billion, says a study by Bain & Co and Google

Unicommerce, India‘s largest e-commerce focused SaaS (software-as-a-service) platform, is now further strengthening its foothold in the Middle-East market with setting up operations in Saudi Arabia. With its expansion plan and roadmap set in motion for the middle-east, the company aims to increase its international business and double its contribution to the overall company revenue by next year. 

“The Middle-East region is witnessing a similar growth pattern like India,” said Kapil Makhija, CEO, Unicommerce. “We understand the nuances and challenges faced by e-commerce companies and e-tailers in an emerging e-commerce market like Saudi Arabia and will provide them with best-in-class software solutions which will enable them to improve business efficiency and help them grow at a much faster pace. 

Middle-East and South-East Asia are the two important regions for Unicommerce in its international expansion strategy and will be key to our overall growth trajectory in the e-commerce segment. “We will be hiring more people in the region to support our growth plans,” said Makhija.

Unicommerce said it is committed towards international expansion and the company announced its South-East Asia operations last month and is consistently growing its customer base in Vietnam and Philippines. Post commencement of operations in the Middle-East (Dubai) in 2018, Saudi Arabia became the ideal choice for the company considering its rich economy and its growing internet user base and e-commerce market growth. Unicommerce has recently onboarded companies like Advanced ICT Innovation Group and Safebox in Saudi Arabia and plans to add a lot of other leading brands of the region.

E-commerce was worth $8.3 billion in 2017 in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and this is expected to grow at a strong rate (more than triple) by 2022 to reach $28.5 billion, according to research by Bain & Company and Google. Average internet penetration rates in the region are very high (about 70 per cent). For certain countries like UAE and Saudi Arabia, it is upwards of 90 per cent according to various industry sources.

Unicommerce is planning to deepen its presence in Middle –East and South-east Asia with almost 300 per cent growth in its international customer base. The company is one of the few successful SaaS start-ups from India which has been able to establish its niche in India with the aim of simplifying e-commerce selling across the globe. Its e-commerce SaaS platform processes over 20 per cent of India’s e-commerce volumes. 

The firm said it is uniquely positioned to provide e-commerce supply chain technology cloud solutions to help industry players of all sizes to manage their business efficiently.  The company offers seamless integrations across marketplaces, shopping carts, logistics providers and ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions. It processes over 700,000 order items per day, amounting to more than $ 2.5 billion GMV (gross merchandise value) for over 10,000 registered customers across India, Middle East and Southeast Asia.