Professional Documents
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Noon.com: Unpacking
Alabbar's Digital Ambitions
14 SEPTEMBER 2016 on saudi, alabbar, noon.com, alabo, research, PIF, abu dhabi, ambitions
Since the news that Alabbar Enterprises invested 100m in Yoox Net-A-
Porter, broke in mid April 2016 there has been intense speculation in the
industry as to Mohammed Alabbar's wider plans for the region's digital space.
Synopsis
It is expected that Alabbar will launch Noon.com (aka Project Next), a
marketplace style, fullment driven fashion focused e-commerce play on the
11th of November 2016 (Single's Day in China) in early January 2017.
Noon is a beautiful palindromic name that is the vocalisation of the letter "n"
in Arabic.
Key Events
On the 4th of June 2016, Mohammed Alabbar delivered a keynote speech titled
"The Arab Digital Transformation" at the Ramadan Majlis of Sheikh
Mohammed Bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. The presentation in
Arabic is available on YouTube and provides important context for the play at
hand.
Legal Entities
f. Noon Holdings AD Ltd, was setup at the beginning of May 2016 in the DIFC
as a non-regulated entity.
g. A new set of operating entities that reect the Noon name were setup at the
end of August 2016. These include Noon Management Services, Noon
Payments, Noon Express, Noon E Commerce and Noon Warehousing.
Funding
Reports indicate that at least $1bn in funding is available to the venture.
$500m from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, available in tranches
as well as $500m from Abu Dhabi, assumedly on similar terms.
Key Personnel
Key Personnel
a. Fodhil Benturqia, CEO. Previously: Souq, MarkaVIP, SocGen. Built Deal of the
Day at Souq.
Business Models
1. E-commerce Marketplace + Fullment
2. Payment Gateway
3. Events Ticketing
4. Travel
Engineering Stack
Scala, dotNet
Hiring
Hiring has taken place across the board from major regional Internet players
such as Souq, Namshi and others. Entering into the hiring process is subject to
signing an NDA upfront with key hires citing "Stealth Startup" as their new
employer.
Reported o ers have generally been well above market compensation ranging
from 45% to 2x over current pay with additional bonuses.
Category Fees
Fashion: 12%
Electronics: 4%
Electronics Accessories: 8%
Health: 8%
Books & Music: 4%
It is expected that sellers will not be charged category fees for the rst six
months.
Closing Fees
AED 2 + 2% of sale value (unclear if this includes shipping costs).
Fullment Fees
Small Box: AED 5
Medium Box: AED 10
Oversized Box: AED 15
Bulk: AED 20
Storage Fees
AED 1.5 per cubic foot for 60 days
AED 2 per cubic foot from 60 to 80 days
AED 8 per cubic foot for 180 days+
Fees are subject to change, but have been indicated to be 90% accurate.
Fullment Centre
A large distribution and fullment centre will be based in Dubai South.
Capacity is expressed to be multiples of the largest player in the region, but it
is not clear to what extent. A vendor reports that they've been requested to
supply racking that is similar to an existing large e-commerce retailer's
environment but have also been asked to provide palletised racks which
indicates that bulk pallet storage will also take place.
Seller Dashboard
Sellers are expected to have a dashboard available in the next couple of weeks.
Categories
It is expected that Noon.com will focus on branded fashion including luxury
names such as Gucci and Chanel, whilst other categories will be built
alongside.
Noon Pay
An industry insider speculated that Noon Pay may look to position as a PayPal
style wallet where the Noon.com marketplace is a key channel for user
acquisition and the capture of payment details. The captive details would be
subsequently used to sell through other services.
Onwards
I'm nothing but excited for what all of this means for the region. E-commerce
and by extension digital is nally getting a fair shake. While no-one with any
sort of commercial interest in the space would applaud the rise of competition,
it is clear that this will grow the region's digital infrastructure in leaps and
bounds, hopefully marking a milestone for a lot more to come.
Updates
September 27th 2016: I was wrong about Amira Rashad, who's o doing her
own thing. I've been told that Sanjay Bhasin is no longer involved with the
project. Launch date has been pushed back to early January 2017.
October 4th 2016: Adds details about new entities that use the Noon name.
Jointhediscussion
fakhouri7daysago
Greatinsight..Thanks!
1 Reply Share
Sam7daysago
Greatwork.Anyideaifnoon.comisgoingtohavetheirownfleetoflastmiledeliveryvehiclesor
they'regoingtorelyonAramexandotherdeliverycompanies?
Reply Share
Hello!Myunderstandingisthatthey'regoingtodobothownfleet+Aramex.
Reply Share
un_employed21daysago
anyupdatesonthis?
Reply Share
AGuy22daysago
IhaveitongoodauthoritythatAlabaristhemanbehindAlfan,oneofthebiggestYouTube
MCNsinMENAandoneofthecompetitorstoUTurn
Reply Share
WissamAboueida2monthsago
Wellthoughtanalysis!Enjoyedit...interestingtimes
Wellthoughtanalysis!Enjoyedit...interestingtimes
Reply Share
djit2monthsago
Iseesomeonedidhishomeworkdiligently:)
Reply Share
NaushMalik2monthsago
Veryinterestingindeed.ThanksforsharingOmar
Reply Share
markrofe2monthsago
GreatpostOmar.Excellentdetectiveskillstoo.
Reply Share
Thanks!:)
Reply Share
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