Q8Ba7th Official Blog

Name: Wataniya Airways

Business Type: Travel

Launch Date: December, 2008
* Date we first noted site online. Could be different

Brief: Wataniya Airlines is the second private airlines going into business next February, and they are the first premium service private airlines, as opposed to the low cost Al-Jazeera Airways. Wataniya Airways have 2 planes so far parked at Toulouse, France, and have 2 more coming later. The two airplanes will be starting their back and forth journeys between their country of origin, Kuwait, and the destinations Dubai, Bahrain, and Beirut on the 8th of Feb, 09. Travelers can already book their ticket flights online.

via SOME contrast

Review:

While Wataniya Airways site has all basic features for travelers to book their tickets, it is still behind I say compared to Jazeera Airways and others. The site design is rather pretty simple and looks like a ready made template. Search box date selection could be improved. Rather than having drop down menu for each entry (e.g., day, month, year), the approach of Jazeera Airways showing dates in human readable format is more appealing. Site response time is also occasionally slow

Booking: Once you perform a flight search, a new full screen window opens up with a complete different URL, but within the same theme, to complete the booking process. This is the engine and service that is powering their online booking system, something that Al-Jazeera is also doing. The different however is that Al-Jazeera does it so transparently. No domain change, nor a new window for it. The Wataniya Airways’ new window is so inconvenient, and makes it difficult for the normal user to browse back and forth. It also forbids him from doing multiple flight searches, which he may want to do for comparison purposes. Any new search loads in the same previously opened window. Also, the redirection to a complete different domain (cat.sabresonicweb.com), makes the end user confused. A simple subdomain mapping would be sufficient to overcome this problem, and give much more confidence and credibility to the user.

Another thing is Wataniya site still does not seem to offer seat selection, nor even a preference. At least, I was not able to spot it. Jazeera on the other hand had it since it’s early launch days. Made a pretty positive impression as well.

Pricing: That’s where it all ends isn’t it? So I tried to go through flight search from Kuwait to Dubai from 9th – 14th Feb, 09 for Wataniya Airways, Jazeera, and Kuwait Airways. A first note is, for some reason Wataniya site returns the ticket price in the currency of destination country, e.g AED, rather than the origin. As a Kuwaiti company, it should be either in KD by default, takes the currency of origin, or at least have in USD as a global currency. Not for any reason would I want to know the price in AED when I am traveling from Kuwait, and the least is I should have the option to change to my preferred currency. At the time of writing, there just isn’t!

Now as for prices, keeping in mind Jazeera is a low-cost service, these are the price ranges:

Wataniya Airways: 50 KD – 129 KD (42 classes)
Jazeera Airways: 10 KD – 70 KD (2 classes)
Kuwait Airways: 105 KD – 230 KD (3 classes)

So Jazeera highest exceeds Wataniya lowest fare, and notice how Kuwait Airways, a struggling service, has it’s lowest class fare close to Wataniya highest, and how their highest First class rate is above by 100 KD. While Wataniya uses Airbus A320, and Kuwait Airways uses variety of models, it remains known to many how consumed and old the airplanes Kuwait Airways operates, especially after last time new airplane purchase efforts were turned down. That, in addition to the frequent Wataniya 2 per day flight to Dubai should put Kuwait Airways almost obsolete for such destinations I believe, except when all other airlines are fully booked. Despite the known fact of the competition, we did not see any corrective measures on the Kuwait Airways side as well. Another thing is, Wataniya Airways gives travelers their own Royal Aviation Terminal, and this includes all traveler classes.

Future Destinations:

• Cairy, Egypt
• Amman, Jordan
• Qatar
• Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
• Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• Damascus, Syria

Summary: Competition is always good, and Wataniya is opening more seats to the hot short destinations, at a promising better service quality. The aviation terminal is, if as good as it seems, a marvelous idea. Their site still seems to need some work in terms of design, performance, and booking features.

In general, I expect Jazeera to remain the target for most frequent travelers for it’s competitive prices. Luxury and late flight seekers will be the Wataniya ones. I still believe with the different in service type we will see both airways trying to eat up each other’s share though. Kuwait Airways… So far it’s still in it’s long sleep, and I don’t expect it to wake up anytime soon.

More References:

Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wataniya_Airways
Jobs: http://www.bayt.com/job/company?xid=807752

Popularity: 33% [?]

Name: Maachla.com

Business Type: Grocery Shopping

Languages: English/Arabic

Launch Date: November, 2008

Brief: Maachla (which means in Arabic grocery items for house) is another online grocery shopping site in Kuwait, like Taw9eel.com, but unlike Taw9eel which operates its own storage area, this one seems to be coordinating with Mishref Co-op.

Review: Being a follower, one would think it has a tough competition to make with Taw9eel, which usually guarantees 1 hour delivery at all times, operating from their own stores according to what they say, rather than dealing with Mishref or any other Co-Op. This gives Taw9eel the lead in delivery time, and better control over the stock items. But it also makes them more limited with item variety, as they can’t keep large stocks of items that wont sell, and also at large extra savings cost. Maachla on the other hand comes up with much greater varieties with lower overhead cost. For example, Taw9eel has only 3 ketchup items of same brand, Heinz, while Maachla comes with over 10 items of different brands.

Price: This is where the credibility of Maachla have failed me. While item prices in general appear to be a lot cheaper than Taw9eel, 300 compared to 500 fils, the prices seem inaccurate and varying for the same product. For example, the below are two Heinz Mayonnaise of different sizes, with the smaller one 300 Fils more expensive.

This is most likely a data entry problem only. The other problem I noticed was price difference between search result page, and product details page:

Search Result Price of 340g is 300 Fils

Product Details page of Heinz ketchup 340g showing price is 450 Fils

So which one is it? This shows hidden bugs in the system and not data entry errors, and for me would keep me away from trying it out in the meantime.

Usability & Interface: Usability I believe is another weakness of the site. Grocery shopping is unlike other type of shoppings. Needs to be fast and easy to search, navigate, and go back and forth. Browsing the site content on Maachla however is rather difficult, as opposed to the AJAX rich interface of Taw9eel with the following shortcomings as I see it:

• Main page of the site is almost free of of any item listing, when it should be the kick off point for it.
• Clicking on category does not bring that category products, but rather requires another click on the subcategory.
• Side menu is taking large part of the screen, when you need to focus on the products them selves most of the time.
• Search function does not seem to be working.
• Registration is required to add items to the cart, when some stores compete to provide checkout without even registration. Registration upon checkout can be enforced, but not before I even try adding items to the cart. Especially when registration requires all my personal information, mobile number, and home address. A side note also is why does the site use the mobile number as the user name? Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me
• Thumbnails: The squeezed thumbnails of items really distorts the look of it, makes item less appealing, and misleading as well. There is the gram size ofcourse, but still the look of a pepsi can is much easier than comparing the gram size.

A revisit for the site design and usability I believe is in order.

Express Shop: This could be their answer to the usability of the site. Express Shop is a quick way to write the items you’re looking for, just as in the notes you carry with you along to the grocery store, and search. You will get list of all available items matching yours. That is a neat feature in my opinion, though still does not overcome all the shortcomings.

Delivery and Charge: We were not able to find any information about delivery charges, but the minimum order amount is 2.0 KD, which is pretty fair. They do not specify the areas of delivery however.

Company Info Missing: As an online grocery store, I guess many people would like some information about the company behind this service, and the way they operate. However we did not see any information like this, not an FAQ section or details about refunds and payments either. The only lead is that it’s “Designed by: Mag Web Technologies Pvt Ltd”, and dealing with Mishref co-op.

Enforce of SSL on all pages: For some reason, all site pages are enforced over SSL connection, which ofcourse means all pages are encrypted and take much longer to load. Not even Amazon takes that step. Encrypted pages are checkout and confidential information pages usually.

Conclusion: Overall, I think the market is big enough for new comers, as majority are still not depending on the high quality, yet very expensive service of Taw9eel.com. With little work on the site, and good market reach, I guess this thing could become handy for many.

Popularity: 36% [?]

Name: fruits-passion-kw.com

Business Type: Body Care Shopping Site & Company Profile

Launch Date: October, 2008

Brief: Fruits & Passion is a global brand for body care rituals, fragrances, and home ambiance products. Has a local exclusive dealer with previous physical stores. Now, while some people might have missed them from the market, thinking they are long gone, selling of those products is still easily available online.

Review: Fruits & Passion Kuwait as I see is a nice elegantly designed site, goes along with the type of business they are in, and matches the original Fruits & Passion global design. You can find there more information about the company, products, type of Spa services and others they offer, and you can also subscribe to their newsletter, since I know they very often participate in public and private expos.

For the people so much enthusiastic in such products, a shopping section is also available, and while it may seem like a secondary item in their site, I have tried it personally and they seem to have a pretty flexible and quick delivery methods, and are quite focused at it. They do offer gift baskets as well, which looks good, a bit expensive, and I think could use some extra items from outside their menu. For example, a New Baby basket can have a teddy bear toy, baby photo album or frame. Something to go along with it. Maybe this needs some further legal work on their side, as they represent an international brand, not sure. But it remains a good idea that adds value in my opinion.

They also offer gift vouchers if you want to gift someone, and a purchase of 30 KD or more will entitle you for a 10% discount on all future purchases as a VIP member, as well as some rewarding points.

The experience of shopping is rather convenient, easy to browse, flexibility to choose the taste you want on product page. The Add to Cart could use a bit of highlighting in the top left side to draw customer’s attention item was really added to the cart. Some people might miss it I guess.

Delivery: Delivery for me happened on same day based on my request, not sure how it’s made otherwise, but they seem again pretty flexible and supportive. Delivery charge is 1 KD for orders below 10 KD, so most of the cases delivery will be FREE of charge, unless you’re only in short of a shampoo .

Popularity: 32% [?]

Name: Kakkuii.com

Business Type: Game Rental & Reviews

Launch Date: 5-12-2008

Brief: Kakkuii (Japanese for cool) came finally live after some Coming Soon waiting period becoming the first game rental service in Kuwait, providing customers with privilege of playing multiple games per month for a fixed flat rate. Home delivery is included as well as part of the service.

How It Works: The user starts by registering with the site, selecting his desired package of the three available, based on the number of games he expect to play per month. The user then builds his list of games preferences. Game deliveries start then after 5 pm (later orders are shifted to next day), and the customer gets one game at a time based on his preference list and availability. Payment and registration start on the game delivery date.

Once he’s done playing the game, customer places an order for game exchange, another delivery is scheduled to reclaim the current game, and hand over the new one from his games preference list, given the monthly exchange limits are not exceeded.

Pricing:

Pricing is based on number of games you want to play per month (you get one game at a time), thus you have to estimate the number of games you want to play and finish every month.

So it ranges from 3-8 games per month, for 18-25 KD. Not cheap, yet not bad eh? When you look at local game prices, they are usually 17-18 KD. Ordering one game from outside would usually end up with the same cost, while this site is giving you 3 games for the price of one. Ofcourse however, you have limited time to finish the game, so it’s most suitable for gamers who can finish a game every other day. But what about gamers with a taste (or time) for one game per month? They seem to be missing this segment which is not a bad segment as well. I would be interested in this service, however 3 games per month is outdoing my muscles. Such gamers I bet would like something like 8 KD/month for one game. Perhaps the reason for lack of this offer is the fear of people not turning back in the game until it looses it’s market value.

Delivery & Payment: Delivery seems free upon game exchange or sign-up request, and payment is Cash on Delivery (my favorite for Kuwait).

Affiliate Program: While this service is still coming soon, this is the first site in Kuwait considering it, and if implemented properly could kill competition and hire more forces and words of mouth around the service, separating it from any future threat.

Review: I’ve personally been watching this site for quite some time waiting for it’s launch, and the guys seem to have worked out a great deal on the brand, not to mention the Japanese style anime comic they’re using to promote their service.

As for the service of game rental in Kuwait, I think it’s excellent. Kuwaities were used to copies for 2 KD before, playing all games they want. Price was never an issue. Now, things are different. And it’s either money, or number of games that is being sacrificed. This is the kind of service that is really filling up a need and not creating one. The price I think has also been thought of very cleverly, while I think it’s more fair to bring it down a bit. 18 KD is the price you will pay anyway for any new game you want. So why not as well get few extras for the same price? Selling used games on the other hand would sell for 10 KD if you’re lucky. Another 8 KD for a new game, and that’s 16 KD for playing two games at your own pace. For 3 games, it’s gonna cost you a bet more. Or playing 3 instead in one month for flat rate. It all depends on the gamer nature. Though I still think a lower price is possible while still maintaining good profit margin. I normally don’t get over the game fully in less than a month, so the rental option is not always best for me I guess. Another thing I hate about this model of rental is that it creates a sense of commitment to gaming, which could come at the expense of other higher priority stuff in your life. Just doesn’t feel so healthy. I have many games still waiting to be opened. No rush.

The limitation of one game at a time is not so convenient I guess. A hardcore gamer needs more than one game in hand at a time. The other big draw back of the service is that, your list of games is only a preference, and there are no guarantees. High demand on a game could mean you won’t get it on release date and have to wait until it becomes available. That is something hardcore gamers don’t bet on.

There is also the suitability of this rental service. While it is good in general, it may not be feasible for game collectors, or for people who want to own certain games. For example I would like to keep my copy of Assassin’s Creed. Also, RPG and online games have usually longer life period than a month, and that would mean you paying 36 KD for 2 months game rental. Ain’t cheap is it? An alternative solution might be in order for such gaming experiences.

As for the company behind this service, it would seem this is all from individual efforts, as I can tell from the contact page listing mobile number only. If that is the case, then the site is running on low cost, however with a bit less credibility as well. I should note though, I got impressed several times in the past by the exceedingly higher quality of service offered by individuals over corporates.

Final Words: We are happy to see new services and innovations been brought into the market, and we see a great value for this service if executed properly. The critical factor here is the quality of the service.

Popularity: 26% [?]