Internet is everywhere, and so being e commerce. With the internet boom, there is a steady rise in the number of users using internet across the world and it is sure to increase in the coming years. Total number of Internet users in the world has risen to 3.74 billion as at March 2017 compared to 3.26 billion Internet users in 2016.

Speaking about Middle East, As of January 2017, the United Arab Emirates is the country with the highest Internet penetration in the world - with an impressive 99 percent of its citizens, or about 9.2 million people, using the Internet.

With these great numbers, businesses have also migrated to the internet to reach their audience. Top Ecommerce companies in Middle East, made use of this to develop Top ecommerce sites for their business client's businesses.

Introduction to ecommerce

E-commerce that is also called as electronic commerce is the purchasing and sale of goods and services through the internet. The funds involved are also transmitted over the internet. These business dealings are categorized into four, which are business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-business. 

Ecommerce which had an earlier struggle to gain the trust of users has successfully established that in the past decade. Now, Users have embraced it as a part of their shopping approach and that is why the e-commerce industry is responsible for about $2 trillion in annual sales.

Recent stats prove that People spend an average of 5 hours per week shopping online.

A lot of companies realized the value of ecommerce websites for their businesses and approached the biggest e Commerce Companies to develop the best websites.

Ecommerce websites are innumerable in number and the competition out there is very tough. Although there are a lot of sites selling the same product, few particular sites still remain to be preferred by people. Let us see who they are.

Here is the list of e commerce companies who are leaders in the industry.

Top players in ecommerce in Middle East

1. Awok (https://www.awok.com/)

Awok (https://www.awok.com/)

This is a website that offers best quality products ranging from jewellery, electronics, toys etc. It also offers a lot of payment options for its customers.

2.  Basharacare.com (www.basharacare.com) 

Basharacare.com (www.basharacare.com)

Basharacare.com is a one that deals with skin care products. It not only boasts of variety but also all the products available on this portal are backed by a dermatologist. 

3. Blowout and Go (https://www.blowoutandgo.ae/)

Blowout and Go (https://www.blowoutandgo.ae/)

Blowout & Go is a service based website that offers its customers the flexibility to book makeup and hairstylist services through their website.

4. BrandsBay.com (https://www.brandsbay.com/)

BrandsBay.com (https://www.brandsbay.com/)

Brandsbay.com offers a wide range of products from top brands of cosmetics, perfumes, and accessories especially watches from the top brands of the like Gucci, Hugo Boss, CK, Guess etc. 

5. BuyOnDubai.com (http://www.buyondubai.com/)

BuyOnDubai.com (http://www.buyondubai.com/)

BuyOnDubai.com is Middle East's biggest electronic online portal. It provides great deals in selling computer, mobile and other electronics.

6. Crazydeals.com (http://www.crazydeals.com/)

Crazydeals.com (http://www.crazydeals.com/)

Crazydeals.com which started in the year 2013 is an online store for discount shopping. It offers a wide variety of daily deals & discounts on electronics, mobiles, perfumes, watches, fashion and much more.

Related: E-Commerce Development: Best Practices to Distinguish Yourself from the Competition

Top players in ecommerce across the world

International e commerce companies that have established their success flag in the ecommerce industry are:

• Amazon
• Apple
• JD.com
• Walmart
• Otto (Germany)

Best practices that have allowed them to achieve their competitive edge

Let us see how these e commerce companies listed stood apart from their competitors.

1. Customer Experience:

Top brands have always emphasized on improving their customer experience (CX) Customers always prefer to choose the sites that they had seamless navigation and enabled them to shop without breaks. Research from Salesforce tells us that 75% of people now expect a consistent experience wherever they engage with brands - be it through social media, mobile, or even in person. Promptness is also preferred by customers, with 64% of consumers expecting companies to interact with them without delay.

Research also says that consumer's decision to buy a product or service is impacted by their overall enjoyment of their experience.  And hence customer experience is the key point to concentrate to become the market leader,

2. Faster load time

No customer waits for more than 3 seconds to wait for a site to load. Hence it is necessary to optimize your ecommerce site for performance. According to Kissmetrics; A 1 second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions. Hence it is necessary to ensure that every page of your website loads promptly.

3. Quality of the product

Quality of the product is one of the key factors for the success of any business. Sites that offer products of bad quality will be defamed through social media and abandoned. With discussion and communication over any topic made so easy, thanks to social media, any bad name you earn spreads like a fire resulting in slandering. For the existing customer to return to your site and a new customer to trust your brand, the quality of the products you sell shouldn't be compromised.

4. Attractive display of Products 

Even if the product you sell is of high quality, It is the way you display it in the website that will make it eye catchy and buyable. A great product if presented badly will make it difficult for the user to guess its quality. Avoid cluttering of products in the page as it will again give a clumsy look forcing the user to leave the page. Put high quality images of the product and a 360-degree view of it.

5. Web Structure and Design

Web design is the first look of the website that attracts your customers to choose your website. A web design that abides to best practices and looks attractive to user with pleasing colours will always add value. An organized and a professional website will always attract customers and also gain their trust to shop.

A great font and high quality image lay-out can do much to compel readers to stay on your website and even make a purchase.

Blurry, inconsistently sized, or hard to see images, make the customer leave the site in a span of few seconds.

6. Simplified Navigation

Navigation must be easy and simple for the customer to roam around the site and look at the products. To make the customer journey easy and happy, you will have to create a good user experience and clear navigation. The customer must be able to navigate through the website seamlessly irrespective of the device he is using.

You can even make use of heat maps to see exactly where customers are clicking on your website and modify your website accordingly. User-friendly experience is necessary for your customers to return to your website again and again. 

7. Responsive Design

With the increase in smartphone usage, it is highly required to have a responsive design for your website so that the customer can Access your site across all devices including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers. If you do not have a responsive design then you might end up in losing a huge chuck of potential customers who are using it. A responsive design remains the same across any devices which will facilitate seamless shopping.

8. Easy Checkout Process

Once the customer has finished adding items to this cart, the checkout process has to be simple and hassle free for him to move to the next level. Limit the unnecessary fields in the checkout form and also auto fill the address and other fields if your customer is an existing one this will fetch you a happy customer.

A good checkout system should also allow buyers to make changes to their carts as per their convenience without any problem.

Another is that a good ecommerce website doesn't ask for a client's security information before making a purchase. Avoid forced sign-ups at the start, and have an option for guest checkout for that customer who doesn't have time or aren't interested to sign in.

Providing a simple way for the customers to complete their purchase will reduce the cart abandonment rate in your website.

9. Asynchronous loading

On contrary to Synchronous loading that makes all elements on a site load in a sequential order. Asynchronous loading skips those elements in the page that are taking longer to load than others. This helps to avoid a frustrated user leaving the website because his cart is not loading. Loading the important fields of the form and optimizing the website for it will give you happy customers who can get to work immediately rather than waiting for the full page to load.

To achieve the top positions of the ecommerce industry, you must focus on the performance of the website. Strong performance will deter users from growing frustrated with slow speeds and activating ad blocking in the first place. 

10. Good strategy

You have to plan your business strategies rather than waiting for a customer to come forward and buy your product. To be a leader, you have to plan on a strategy that will lure new customer s and encourage existing customers to visit again and again. Emails push messages and SMS can be sent with discounts and coupons that will lure the customers to revisit the website again. A leader in ecommerce does not wait for the customer's need to arise; he creates endless needs for them to return to the site and buy from him. So, to achieve success, it is required to plan your marketing strategies and implement it on the website.

Conclusion

I hope this post has given you an insight on the changes to make t be the market leader of your business. Do make these changes in your website and look at the conversions that pour in. 

If you are not sure where to start, you can seek the help of Ecommerce development companies. It will be very difficult to choose the biggest or best e commerce companies due to lot of options available in the market and hence you can go through the Ecommerce development companies' reviews via eDesk HUB to shortlist the top company.