Souq.com was the largest

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

platform in the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

. The company launched in 2005 in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

. On March 28, 2017, Amazon.com Inc. acquired Souq.com for $580 million as a subsidiary. On May 1, 2019, Souq.com UAE became known as Amazon.ae, while on June 17, 2020, Souq.com KSA became known as Amazon.sa. Lastly, on September 1 2021, Souq.com Egypt became known as Amazon.eg and officially marking the end of Souq.com, however some blog posts, pages, and the Sign In/Log In Page have not been changed to

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

so they are the last remaining pages of Souq.com.

History

The website was founded in 2005 by

Ronaldo Mouchawar Ronaldo Mouchawar ( ar, رونالدو مشحور), is a Syrian entrepreneur. In 2005, he co-founded Souq.com, the largest e-commerce retailer in the Arab World, making the e-commerce retailer the region's first unicorn. When Amazon acquired ...

and was originally a consumer to consumer auction site part of

Maktoob Maktoob ( ar, مكتوب) was an online services company founded in Amman (Jordan). Maktoob.com was known for being the first Arabic/English email service provider. In 2009, Yahoo! acquired Maktoob.com, thus turning Maktoob into Yahoo!'s officia ...

Group. In 2010, Wisam (Sam) Daoud joined Souq from

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

as Chief Technology Officer and led the transformation of the business from auctions to a fixed price catalog based business similar to

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

. In late 2012 Asif Keshodia joined as CFO on the heel of Souq's first major funding round led by

Cape Town, South Africa Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislature, legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the sec ...

-based Naspers and NYC hedge fund Tiger Global Management. In March 2014, Naspers invested another $75 million in the company, bringing to $150 million the total Souq.com raised since its inception, the largest amount raised by any internet-based business in the Middle East. The company was backed by Tiger Global Management and Naspers Ltd. as of 2015, among other companies, and headquartered in

. In October 2015, it was reported that in a round of fundraising, the company was valued at around $1 billion. At the time, it had around 10 million visitors monthly in the 2nd place after

Digikala Digikala ( fa, دیجی‌کالا, translit=Dijikalâ, lit=digi(tal) goods) is an Iranian e-commerce company based in Tehran, founded in July 2006 by Hamid Mohammadi and Saeid Mohammadi. The e-commerce platform is designed to offer a wide ran ...

by 51 million visitors monthly. On March 27, 2017, Emaar Properties made an offer for Souq of $800 million. On March 28, 2017, Amazon.com Inc. confirmed it would be acquiring Souq.com for an unknown value. A source told '' The Wall Street Journal'' the deal was worth around $700 million, while the '' Financial Times'' reported that the deal was "understood to be worth more than $650m". The BBC also reported that Amazon might be paying about $650 million. The deal was expected to be completed later in 2017. With the acquisition, Souq.com is now a subsidiary of Amazon, acting as Amazon's arm into the Arab world. In May 2019, Souq.com UAE became Amazon.ae, in September of the same year Amazon launched the Amazon DSP in the UAE and in June 2020, Souq.com KSA become amazon.sa and in September 1, 2021 Souq.com Egypt became amazon.eg and officially marking the end of Souq.com.

Overview

As of March 2017, it sold over 8.4 million products in 31 categories, including "consumer electronics, fashion, health and beauty, household goods and baby." It also had around 45 million visits per month. It was the largest e-commerce platform in the

as of 2016, often described as the Amazon of the Middle East. As of 2014, the site delivered to the

, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar. By March 2017, Souq.com had localized operations in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Egypt, which as of 2014 equated to semi-automated modern fulfillment centers in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Egypt, measuring a total of 35,000 square meters. At the time the company had employed around 2,500 employees in engineering, retail, customer support, fulfillment and last mile delivery sections. As of September 1, 2021, Souq.com has been completely replaced by

as Egypt replaces Souq.com Egypt with Amazon.eg.

Souq.com subsidiaries

As of January 2018, Souq.com subsidiaries include their delivery arm – QExpress, payment platform – Payfort which became Amazon Pay in Dec 2020, repair and service marketplace – Helpbit, and delivery marketplace Wing.

References

External links

* * * * {{Amazon Internet properties established in 2005 Online retailers of the United Arab Emirates Retail companies established in 2005 Amazon (company) acquisitions Maktoob Emirati companies established in 2005 Companies based in Dubai Online retailers of Saudi Arabia

History

Overview

Souq.com subsidiaries

See also

References

Further reading

External links