Page 68 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

52 Dubai & Co.

However, Aramex’s charge for a 1.5-kilogram shipment to Dubai is
$19, and it will arrive in far less time than will the Amazon
shipment; the GCC consumer gets his or her books faster and
cheaper.
Further, when one considers that electronic and software prod-
ucts are sometimes unable to be shipped internationally, the handi-
cap faced by multinationals without a GCC presence becomes
apparent.

Hawaa World: Help Me Shop!

Informal networks also exist that allow GCC shoppers—usually
women—to connect with other shoppers based in the West or in
Asia and that arrange purchases for them and bring items back on
their behalf. On the popular women’s portal Hawaa World
14
(“Women World”), which has over 150,000 members, consumers
can make requests for others to shop on their behalf for items they
cannot order online themselves: for example, if the online retailer
does not ship to the GCC, if the product cannot be found online, if
the retailer does not accept foreign credit cards, or if there is a risk
that goods will break during shipment. People also discuss the mer-
its of products and help each other find them locally. Some partici-
pants even offer products (often foreign) for sale. For example, con-
sider Figure 2.4.

Figure 2.4 Hawaa World posting