With the fierce competition in mainstream cross-border e-commerce markets such as Europe and the United States, more and more cross-border e-commerce platforms and sellers are eager to seize the opportunities in the new market. The Middle East is one of the hottest emerging markets.

At the same time, as a pioneer of new markets, there are so many problems that need to be solved when cross-border e-commerce enters the Middle East market. The logistics problem is the most difficult bottleneck.

The market has great potential, and the Middle East is a fertile ground to be reclaimed.

As one of the fastest growing e-commerce markets in the world, the Middle East not only has a booming local e-commerce platform, but also attracts many foreign platforms including China's e-commerce companies. In early 2017, e-commerce giant Amazon also made a big push into the Middle East E-commerce market.

Currently, e-commerce platforms such as JollyChic, SheIn, Souq, Namshi, Noon and Wadi are the most popular e-commerce platforms in the Middle East e-commerce market, and have won an excellent reputation in the local area. China's export e-commerce giants Globalegrow E-commerce, YOUKESHU GROUP, etc. also officially entered the Middle East market.

It is understood that the e-commerce market in the Middle East is mainly centered on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, covering the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Syria and other countries. In terms of geographical location, Saudi Arabia and Dubai are far ahead of other countries in the Middle East with their own economic development and a large number of online shopping consumers and huge e-commerce market share. Saudi Arabia accounts for about 65% of the Middle East e-commerce market share, and the UAE accounts for 20%, the remaining 15% are other Middle Eastern countries. Fashion, beauty, 3C (electronics) and products with Middle Eastern products such as perfumes are the best sellers in the Middle East e-commerce market.

According to the BMI research report, the telecommunications sales in the Middle East reached US$4.3 billion in 2016, and this data is expected to exceed US$22.3 billion in 2020.

Logistics problems become the biggest obstacle in the Middle East e-commerce market

The network coverage is high and the consumption potential is large. For China's cross-border e-commerce sellers, the Middle East market is indeed a fertile ground to be reclaimed. But at the same time, the special humanities and geography of the Middle East have also added challenges to the Nuggets of Chinese sellers, and this is especially true for logistics problems.

Difficult customs clearance

There are high trade barriers in the Middle East, high trade tariffs, and strict product clearance. If e-commerce companies encounter high tariffs, changing regulations and exchange rate fluctuations, they can transport goods through customs or cause huge losses. Therefore, after the sellers in the Middle East place orders, it often takes several weeks to deliver. This kind of logistics timeliness makes the consumer shopping experience greatly reduced, and also increases the probability of returning goods.

Delivering difficulties

There are no specific postal codes in many parts of the Middle East, the consumer address is not well-written, and the number of couriers who are familiar with the route is limited, which leads to a significant increase in the delivery cost of the last mile.

On the other hand, most of the Middle East is a Muslim country, and there are also many taboos in terms of products and delivery. For example, female in the Middle East are afraid to open doors to strange men when there is no male at home. Therefore, products may take several months to arrive in the buyer.This has greatly reduced the consumer shopping experience and increased the probability of returning goods.

Hard to store

With more and more sellers entering the Middle East local e-commerce platform and self-built independent platforms in recent years, the volume of goods in the Middle East e-commerce market has risen sharply in the short term, and current logistics channels may be difficult to carry a surge in volume, so more and more e-commerce giants and big sellers began to pay attention to the construction of overseas warehouses.

However,in terms of labor costs and capital costs, the current construction of overseas warehouses in the Middle East is relatively high. In some areas, there are many restrictions and requirements on overseas warehouses.

CITITRANS solves the Middle East logistics problem for cross-border e-commerce sellers

Despite the difficulties in cross-border logistics in the Middle East, it is not a proper solution. It is understood that CITITRANS has been deeply involved in the Middle East market for more than ten years, with professional overseas warehouses and systematic Middle East e-commerce logistics solutions.

The relevant person in charge of CITITRANS introduced: “CITITRANS has deep cooperation with major e-commerce platforms in the Middle East such as Souq and wadi – cooperating with investment and providing professional logistics services to provide quality logistics for Chinese sellers. Overseas warehouses and local delivery services to solve the bottleneck restrictions of Chinese sellers entering the Middle East e-commerce platform.'

Header:

 CITITRANS have established long-term strategic partnerships with Middle East airlines (EK, China Southern Airlines, Cathay Pacific) and major shipping companies (Cosco, APL, HPL, etc.) which can provide customers with multiple flights and schedules from China to the major cities in the Middle East. .

With years of experience in air and sea transportation from the domestic to the Middle East, we provide our customers with efficient and timely on-time freight forwarding services.

Customs clearance:

 CITITRANS has been deeply involved in logistics in the Middle East for more than ten years. It has a large number of Chinese and foreign professional staff. It is familiar with the trade, shipping, customs clearance, bonded warehouse storage, port of destination legal regulations and industry standards of the Middle East countries. It has a 24-hour online customs clearance system. The first time the airport is cleared for customs clearance, the powerful customs declaration trailer strength complements the shipping capacity, minimizing customer troubles and helping to clear customs clearance.

Delivery:

CITITRANS provides customers with bonded free warehousing and distribution of Dubai Free Zone to local and export third country services;And distributes goods according to customer order details. According to the requirements of customers' freight time, it designs and implements arrangements for air transportation, FCL, and LCL and transport or express export to the third country. At the last mile of delivery, CITITRANS has strategic cooperation with the largest express delivery companies Aramex, FETCHR, DHL, SMSA and NAGEL in the Middle East, with low-cost contract numbers and distribution priorities. Therefore, the signing yield and the proper investment rate of COD can be greatly improved.

Overseas warehouse:

CITITRANS has mature overseas warehouses and supporting services in the Middle East who provide intelligent ERP order solutions for business and cross-border e-commerce customers with systematic and three-dimensional overseas warehouses + last mile of quality service; eliminate the worries of the end  in logistics of customers.

Software system:

The system developed by CITITRANS is connected to the customer system upstream, and the downstream is connected with the local express delivery in the Middle East  which to provide customers with a single tracking and inquiry service. The overseas warehouse has a powerful WMS system to connect with the customer's OMS, and the customer can grasp the real-time data of the order and warehouse at the first time.

CITITRANS's Middle East one-stop logistics customized service makes the logistics of various formats and customers' goods transportation and distribution perfectly combined, leading the industry into the era of logistics customization.