Launched in 2008, Doha Sooq is an online marketplace that allows buyers and sellers to trade across, such as fashion, electronics, home appliances, and mobiles and tablets.

The site’s business model was built around the strengths of Doha Bank, leveraging the financial institution’s reputation in the digital banking sphere, and its position as a financial services provider among Qatar’s SMEs.

Subsequently, Doha Sooq has been able to offer customers multiple secure payment options, including by debit and credit card, cash-on-delivery, via Doha Bank account-to-account transfers and by using Doha Miles.

Equally important to meeting customer expectations is the timely delivery of an online purchase.

According to the same 2019 Impact Survey, 40% of Qatar’s online shoppers accept a delivery time of 1 to 2 days. Yet when it is a local online purchase, a third of respondents believe that same-day delivery is a reasonable expectation.

This presented a unique challenge for Doha Sooq. As a multi-vendor platform, online orders are fulfilled by individual merchants, and not dispatched from a central warehouse. In order to keep customers happy and protect its reputation, the site had to assist its merchants in meeting the logistical demands of delivery.

This was accomplished through the development and integration of the Doha Sooq Delivery app, which helps merchants to manage their deliveries and the fulfilment of customer orders.

Mobile apps have become increasingly popular in recent years, with the MCIT’s 2019 Impact Survey finding that they have surpassed desktop as the preferred manner to shop online. As many as 57% of respondents reported that they prefer mobile apps, highlighting that apps and the responsiveness of eCommerce sites should be a priority for all emerchants.

The Doha Sooq Delivery app is used by merchants to assign orders to a specific driver, set driver routes, and send drivers push notifications when fresh orders arrive. The app also captures customer signatures upon delivery, and updates payment and order statuses.

Not only has the app smoothed the delivery path for Doha Sooq’s merchants, it has also enhanced the online shopping experience for their customers.

This customer-centric approach is, Doha Sooq believes, critical to its success as an e-commerce platform, and is evident in the areas of facilitating convenient payments, a customer help desk to handle complaints and queries, an efficient delivery system, and the site’s product offers and pricing.

Additionally, Doha Sooq appeals to a diverse customer-base and eases the shopping experience with both English and Arabic platforms, and allows customers to track their orders with a recently revamped order management system.

By keeping the customer at the centre of its strategy, Doha Sooq has been able to narrow its focus, solve its most pressing challenges, and prioritise where and when to invest in further development and improvements.