Souq.com, the Middle East e-commece platform owned by Amazon, slashed the prices of some products in order to competed with those of newly launched Noon.com.
The price war between the Arab portals, predicted this week by analysts, has started early as Souq dropped the price of some key products.
In two key exmaples, the top-selling Apple AirPods went on sale this week on Noon.com for AED575, lower than what it retails for on Apple’s offical website price of AED649. In a move to match Noon, the product shipped by Souq dropped its price to match AED575.
The Xiaomi Mi 5 Dual sim 32 GB was reduced on Noon to AED1,099 as part of its opening prices. Listed before the weekend for AED1,389, Souq.com dropped its price to AED998.
Souq has also reduced its shipping rates from AED12 to AED10 for regular delivery, and 18 AED for same day delivery, which was previously AED24. This is for all products fulfilled by Souq. Free shipping is availavble for orders over AED100, a reduction from the previous AED150. All of this is flagged with a new banner on the hompeage.
Some sellers are believed to have contacted Noon to change their names on the newly launched e-commerce portal over pressure from Souq to stop selling their products on rival websites. More info
By Staff arabianbusiness.com
