E-commerce stores have become widely spread in Saudi Arabia recently because creating online stores is easy and poses no problem. However, the challenge lies in making these stores successful and maintaining that success. Therefore, in this guide from Fehris, we offer the most important tips for opening an e-commerce store in Saudi Arabia, along with many services through the best search engines based on artificial intelligence.
There are several factors that significantly affect e-commerce stores that you should follow if you wish to open a successful online store. Here are some tips for opening a successful e-commerce store.
1- Strong Management
Your store must have strong management with previous experience in e-commerce to be aware of the management fundamentals, labor, financial capabilities, and resource management the store needs. They should be capable of contracting with shipping companies that ensure the best service for you and choose payment methods that suit you.
Therefore, Zid platform is the best choice that provides you with all the features we mentioned. It can offer you a team called the Store Preparation Team that works on preparing your store from registration on the platform until all products are uploaded and the store is ready to receive orders.
2- Professional Store Design
You should strive for a professional e-commerce store design by seeking experts in this field so that the design appeals to the target audience and displays products in a way that attracts users, with the condition that the design is user-friendly for easy product access.
One of the most important tips for opening an e-commerce store is to ensure the store is responsive and compatible across all devices to prevent any customer from having issues accessing the store on any device.
Instead of all that, you can purchase your e-commerce store through Zid platform to guarantee all these features; because Zid provides many display templates compatible with all devices and suitable for all fields, making the store appropriate for the products you wish to showcase.
3- Marketing the Store
Marketing is one of the most influential factors on the widespread popularity of the store. There are many digital marketing methods you can use to promote your store. The first of these methods is to use influencers on social media or celebrities in general because they have a large fan base and a large number of followers.
You can also start some advertising campaigns on social media and search engines, targeting the customer segment you wish to reach easily.
Or you could use the strongest search engine in the Middle East, Fehris, to register some customer data, analyze it, and then start offering them deals via email.
4- Strong Customer Service
Strong customer service is one of the most important factors affecting the success of the store because they represent the store in front of customers. The first impression might be through customer service as they deal directly with customers.
Customer service helps users by answering all inquiries and questions and assisting users in case they face any problems, making the strength of customer service a reflection of the store's strength.
5- Enhancing User Experience
You can improve the user experience in your e-commerce store by using Fehris search application, now available in Zid's app store, which enhances customer experience on your store by providing an advanced search and filtering system supported by artificial intelligence technologies.
6- Agreements with Suppliers and Shipping Companies
When talking about the most important tips for opening an e-commerce store, suppliers and shipping companies must be mentioned; because the success of the project depends on the store owner's choice of the best suppliers who have the best products. Contracting with reputable suppliers you can trust to provide you with products consistently and regularly gives you the opportunity to offer deals and discounts to attract customers easily. Therefore, it's best to maintain a good relationship with suppliers to get the best offers and agreements from them.
In addition to all that, agreeing with a good shipping company that provides good packaging services so that products reach the customer safely earns the customer's trust.
7- Offering High-Quality Products
The quality of the products you offer affects your success or failure because the customer chooses products among many competitors. Therefore, you must gain their trust so they repeat the purchase process because they trust that your store offers high-quality products.
Or you could clearly describe all the product features, whether flaws or advantages, and leave the choice to the customer, ensuring the customer is aware of the store's policies, payment, and return policies before completing the purchase.
8- Building a Brand Identity
One of the things that stick in users' minds is the store's identity. It's possible to work on choosing a distinctive name, logo, and some colors used in all store designs to make these elements stick in users' minds and be aware of your store.
When you want to create an e-commerce store in Saudi Arabia, you must first look for the most important tips for opening an e-commerce store and search for the conditions for opening the store in Saudi Arabia so as not to fall under the law and have the store closed by the Saudi government, which means the store has failed. Therefore, you should follow the following steps:
1- Reserving a Trade Name
The first step in opening an e-commerce store in Saudi Arabia is to choose a trade name for your store to register the trademark rights of the store; to ensure your right when the store succeeds and to protect the trademark from theft by those wishing to steal the name, which could tarnish your brand because you won't be monitoring those products at that moment.
Therefore, you must first register it after the following conditions are available:
You can register the trade name of the store electronically through the services of the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Investment via the official website of the ministry. You must wait up to 60 days for the registration to be completed in the commercial register.
2- Obtaining a Commercial Register
The commercial register is the most important step as it is the legal outlet that allows you to practice any activity on Saudi soil. It guarantees your rights and the rights of scholars. You can obtain this register online without the need to exert effort by visiting the website of the Saudi Ministry of Commerce.
3- Obtaining a Commercial License
E-commerce stores are treated like traditional stores specialized in selling a specific type of product, so the owner of the e-commerce store must obtain a commercial license for the store to legally practice this activity. However, first, the conditions available on the website of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing must be met. In addition to that, it would be better to issue a discount license that allows you to make the discounts you want on the store.
4- Registering the Store in the Commercial Register
Registering the e-commerce store in the commercial register is one of the most important steps that cannot be dispensed with because it is one of the most important conditions in Saudi Arabia; because if the store is not registered in the commercial register, then the store is not licensed in Saudi Arabia and thus the store is meaningless. The e-commerce store can be registered in the commercial register by following the steps below:
5- Store Authentication
Authenticating the store is one of the most important steps that should be included in the list of the most important tips for opening an e-commerce store; because this step gives your store a lot of credibility and thus attracts many users and increases sales. This application can be submitted on the website of the Saudi Business Center.
This process requires showing the commercial register of the store or the freelance work document if available, provided that it is valid, alongside a commercial bank account. The following data must also be available:
After verifying the documents provided by the store owner, the competent authority issues the authentication data for the store owner and disseminates it in the database, stating that this store is licensed and has been legally authenticated in Saudi Arabia.
6- The Electronic Sale Contract
According to the e-commerce law issued by the Saudi Ministry of Commerce, it is mandatory for licensed e-commerce store owners in Saudi Arabia to clarify the contract details between the store and the user, setting the following conditions to be adhered to by both parties, including:
Comprehensive Product Description: The store owner must describe everything related to the product, including accessories or services provided, using Standard Arabic in the description.
Store Information: The store name or brand must be clear to the customer, and it's better to mention the geographical location of the store or workplace if available.
Total Purchase Cost: The total amount required from the customer must be clarified before confirming the purchase, mentioning the cost of taxes, fees, shipping, and the product price, then stating the total cost.
Warranty: One of the most important conditions is to clarify the warranty period, the services covered by the warranty, and after-sales service if this service is provided.
Return and Exchange Policy: It is required that the store has clear and explicit policies regarding product returns or exchanges, mentioning the products to which these policies apply.
Payment and Delivery Methods: You must provide an electronic payment gateway that is secure and affiliated with Saudi banks, in addition to shipping and delivery details, specifying the period in which the product will arrive, with this information being present in the invoice sent to the customer.
Complaints: It is possible to receive complaints from customers via the store's website, email, or all social media channels, mentioning the period in which the complaint will be responded to; because this service gives great confidence to the customer as they are reassured that there are people interested in solving the problems they face.
Contact Methods: The store owner must provide communication methods for the customer to be able to contact a representative of the store and ask questions.
7- Ensuring Security and Privacy for Customers
One of the most important conditions that must be included in the most important tips for opening an e-commerce store in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is securing customer data in the store; because this data is in the possession of the owner, thus it is their responsibility.
The store must declare that it does not intend to use users' data for any illegal purpose or without the user's consent, clarifying that the customer has the right that the store cannot retain any information or data about the customer after the retention period has expired or after the service requested by the customer has ended.
The store must notify the Saudi Ministry of Commerce in case of a hacking and data breach incident, specifying the extent of the breach and how it can be remedied.
8- Electronic Payment Terms
The store must have an active bank account in one of the licensed banks in Saudi Arabia to receive payments, mentioning the payment mechanisms and banks adopted by the store for payment, along with mentioning the taxes or fees imposed on each method.
Or you can rely on Zid platform in this process, which provides more than one payment method for the store easily, knowing that these methods are fully secured to protect the data of customers and the store from hacking.
There are many factors that significantly affect the creation of the store, which are as follows:
Platform Type: There are many platforms that can be used to create the store, and the cost varies from one platform to another depending on the features and services they provide.
Store's Simplicity or Complexity: The simplicity or complexity of the store's structure significantly affects the cost. If it contains many complex products or services that are difficult to implement, the cost of the store will be higher than that of e-commerce stores with simple algorithms.
Additional Services: Creating the store may require some additions not found in other stores, thus increasing the cost.
Based on all these factors affecting the cost of creating an e-commerce store in the Kingdom, it starts from 500 Saudi Riyals and can reach up to one hundred thousand Saudi Riyals.
Here are some tips for opening an e-commerce store in Saudi Arabia while reducing costs:
Fehris website is one of the best search engines that can be used in e-commerce stores and uses artificial intelligence in this, making it the strongest Arabic search engine in the Middle East, and the numbers prove it. Therefore, we will present to you the features we offer you as follows:
In conclusion, every e-commerce store owner must search for the most important tips for opening an e-commerce store, especially if they do not have any previous experience in the world of e-commerce, which has become much larger than before and requires many factors to ensure the store's success. Therefore, we have provided all the information that helps everyone intending to open an e-commerce store so they do not face any difficulties, in addition to offering many features through the platform on Fehris. Seize the opportunity now and subscribe with us.
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