As women in Saudi Arabia call for more equality, brands must give them the power they seek, argues Alexandra Tohme
“If ever there was a time for retailers to take advantage of a mass shift in female customer expectations, this is it. Tracking the influence of North African unrest on Saudi Arabia through internet memes clearly shows a mass push by women to have more of a say in their lifestyles.
In February we had #egyeffectSA, followed by #saudiwomenrevolution. A branch of this was #khobargirlsunite, #jeddahgirlsunite and #riyadhgirlsunite – calling for equality in municipal voting starting 23 April. Most recently we have #women2drive – which represents a group of Saudi women in a c
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Very well said @alexandra. Although the infrastructure for e-commerce in GCC or MENA is yet to take off. In marketing terms, innovative consumers that account for 2.5 to 5 percent of the total potential e-commerce channel will be the pioneers in adopting it and advocate others to join in. Having my experience in the retail industry working as a product manage in Alghanim Electronics located in Kuwait for 5 years, I can assure you that the GCC customer or I can say about the Kuwaiti customer will not purchase an item unless he/she is assisted by a sales person. This goes on all level of retail outlets in Kuwait from consumer electronics to clothes. The culture still in mind that consumers need to be pampered and assisted in order to close the deal, otherwise, you lose out on the sale. I can’t wait to see how the culture and mind set will change in adopting e-commerce, and Alexandra have made a very good point when focussing on women in the region because they do hold the key for success in this channel.