If there’s one thing that works across the Arab world, it’s delivery. From Cairo to Dubai, a fleet of men on scooters, bicycles and foot will deliver pretty much anything to your door, from a Big Mac to a cigarette lighter. And plugging that hunger for to-the-door service into the global e-commerce boom is proving to be a healthy earner for one Middle East company.
Shop & Ship, run by the Jordanian logistics company Aramex, increased revenues by 43 per cent year-on-year to around AED49m ($13.3m) in the first quarter of 2012. The service lets subscribers rent a PO box address in the US or UK, for use with online shopping sites, few of which will ship to the Middle East. When packages arrive at the address – an Aramex-operated warehouse – they are re-routed to the recipient, anywhere in the Arab world and beyond.
Letting Arab consumers participate in the global boom in online shopping has proved lucrative. Shop & Ship now accounts for almost 20 per cent of the AED245m revenues earned by Aramex’s international express delivery business, according to quarterly results published in late April. Business coming from e-commerce as a whole, including other services the company offers, is growing at more than 30 per cent yearly.