Q8Ba7th Official Blog

The visit before my last, I was so disappointed and distracted all the time by how Marina Mall has turned into, and I can only guess it relates to the Avenues invasion. Each parking lot has small sign before it, that would seem like handicapped parking only at first. Corridors were filled with booths from all kinds, some even blocking the outside view of some shops. restaurant tables are all covered with company ads. Well that last one might seem ok, but over all you get the feeling they’re sacrificing quality for short-term profits.

This last Wednesday however, I’ve seen the worst of all. Big chunk of the booths are gone, but on one of the sides, this is what I saw.

Yes, this is inside Marina Mall. I looked at it today in disbelief again. How could they allow it to go this low? Is there no limit to how bad the mall can get if it makes few extra bucks today, never mind tomorrow?

Sad really.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Name: Soccer Scene

Site: http://soccerscene.com.kw/ / UK Original Site (to see what they have)

Type: Sport / Soccer / Store

Location: Avenues Mall, Kuwait

Opening Date: Expected February, 2010

Soccer Scene, as I heard, the famous british soccer specialized store is going to open a branch at Avenues Mall next February hopefully. The store brand was established back in 1980, and they say you can’t miss it if you’re sport shopping in UK.

While we have several stores now at Avenues, I still find my self lacking variety and some items sometimes, so let’s hope this coming store can fill up the gap, and at reasonable prices.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Name: Al-Bairaq Mall Cinema

Type: Cinema / Shopping Mall

Location: Egaila, Block 4

Brief: The newest cinema in Kuwait, from no other than Cinescape ofcourse, opened in the recently opened Al-Bairaq mall in Egaila, featuring 3 screens only, compared to the latest brand openings in 360 and Avenues.

Review: Being few minutes drive from my place, I was still hesitant to try this cinema out. Alas, Cinescape had a clue people won’t favor this place, and showed Toy Story 3D exclusively there for a whole week at least. Being a favorite for my kid, and for the love of 3D I hold, I decided to try it out.

Parking: First let down is that, unlike 360 and Avenues, this mall has zero shaded parkings, and all parkings are outside. So you will be parking your car under the sun.

Friendliness: For the first time really I encountered some rude guys at the snacks stand. When I was standing first inline before they opened, and they started serving others from another line. I pointed that I’ve been standing here first and I shouldn’t be asked to line behind others, the Philippine seller rudely replied that this is the open cashier and they start with it. It’s not the waiting but the principle of respecting a person’s turn that would piss you off even before you start enjoying the movie.

Cleanliness: Having been opened for a week only, and being on the first show of the day, I really don’t see any explanation for unclean seats and some left overs on the floor. It wasn’t quite filthy, but not clean as well.

Disturbance: During the show, it was mostly quite. However most people are coming to the theatre to book at last minute, and the guy showing them to their seats doesn’t really care the movie started and you paid to enjoy it. He would stand in your face and point the light for the late coming people.

The Show: 3D glasses are quite as good as the 360 experience, if you have experienced it. Ofcourse it’s not IMAX here but still, the 3D experience is wonderful, BUT! It’s very hard to miss the dirt at the top right of the screen. The theatre is just one week old, I kept wondering how did the dirt make it to the top right of the screen. Doesn’t anybody notice it at least? Or doesn’t simply anyone care.

Conclusion:

Some of the raised points here are common sadly among all cinemas. Others are I think Bairaq specific. And while it’s a 5 minutes drive from my home, I think I’d rather do 30 minutes drive and enjoy my self instead, that is when I decide I want to see the movie in Kuwait Cinema and not at home.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Name: Art Of Hobby

Site: ArtOfHobby.com

Type: Shopping / Anime

Language: English

Launch Date: July, 2009

Brief: Art Of Hobby is the official online shopping site of the well known physical store among its fans, Hobby Japan, which started as a physical store back in 2002 selling famous action figures.

Review:

Very few stores offer what thousands love and adore, and this one as far as I know is the first that delivers on online shopping site in Kuwait for anime figures collection. What’s best about it is, it’s from a fan for the fans. You would see a simple design, and even the fonts used are not the professional ones usually used by companies. I think what he’s trying to achieve is a more friendly, anime like look of the site.

Pricing:

Since I’m really not an anime fan, I can have no say on the pricing. So it’s up to you guys to see and decide. What do you think?

Payment:

I’m not sure if this was just left there or that’s the method of payment, but the site shows at the bottom of the page PayPal, VISA and MasterCard as the available methods of payment. I think this was left there from the original ready made template, since PayPal is really not that popular in Kuwait. Also, point # 1 in the Terms & Conditions page seems to suggest a cash on delivery.

Delivery:

This is where it gets confusing, and let’s you feel the site should be taken more seriously. On the main page, it mentions “We deliver to your home for only 1 KWD and for orders over 50 KWD Will be free.”, and free otherwise. Now aside from the high minimum order for free delivery, the terms and conditions page puts it completely different:

3-For orders less than 99KD a customer must pay a 2KD for shipping charge.

4-Orders over 99KD will get a free Shipping.

Quite confusing. But I think the 1 KD is the most updated one. They must’ve forgotten to reflect on it in the terms page. If you wish however, you can place the order online, and pick it from the shop for FREE as well.

Refund & Exchange:

The site offers exchange only for a period of 3 days from the purchase.

Gallery:

Popularity: 8% [?]

Name: Logitech.com.kw

Category: Shopping / Electronics

Language: English

Launch Date: July, 2009

Brief: Logitech Kuwait is the official dealer from Logitech in Kuwait, and has taken the step of providing it’s electronics offerings online through an easy to use shopping site, with Knet payment and next day delivery through Posta Plus.

Review:

It’s nice to see brand companies like Logitech realizing the potential of online shopping, and going up with their offerings online, with next day delivery. The site design is fairly simple, no cluttered ads to slow down page loading or distract the user. Response is pretty good, and unlike some other shopping sites in Kuwait, you can complete your whole shopping before registering with the site. Registration is only required at the time of checkout.

Pricing:

Pricing of the site varies from one item to another compared to Amazon, and while most of the items end up cheaper at Amazon, the price difference is sometimes small in the range of 5 KD, something that you will end up paying a company like Aramex eventually for the shipping, if not more. In addition, many items on the Logitech site come with 2 years of warranty and product support, as opposed to being on your own once you get it from Amazon.

So next time you wanna buy a Logitech piece of hardware, give this site a look. Seek reviews on Amazon, and compare the price. Put the shipping cost and product warranty in mind as well.

Advertising:

What’s really notable is the intensive smart advertising campaign Logitech is running on Google, and quite custom to your search.

Someone’s been doing real good job at his advertising campaign.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Name: Maachla.com

Following our initial review of Maachla.com, the guys at Maachla took the time to go through our opinion of the site and offer another chance for trying them out after the new enhancements, and after their award winning “Best Website in Kuwait” in Sheikh Salim Al-Ali Informatics Award.

Shopping Experience:

So we did give it a couple of tries. The first was for some item that was out of market for some time, and we found the item on Maachla.com and placed the order, interested to see the outcome. Shortly when the delivery time arrived, I got a call that I couldn’t attend to. Calling back their hotline, your number gets recorded and you hear a message telling you someone will call you shortly. Later on a real nice friendly guy called back and told me that specific item is out of stock, and offered an alternative if I was interested. I declined and thanked him for his call. This tells us a good thing about their customer service quality, and a bad thing about their inventory system. It’s not tied to the real Mishref Co-Op database.

The second time we ordered few regular items, including some beverages. The shortage in varieties, and availability of all size options in the beverages section did not make the experience as good as we hoped it would. Below we give quick brief about each part of the experience.

Registration:

Again, to try adding items to the basket you have to register. To register you have to give in your mobile number. How many people would wanna do that before they try out the site? Ask for these info at checkout only. Get users to try and love what you have worked hard for!

Delivery:

As explained earlier, you get to select the delivery hour up to two weeks in advance, but you cannot select the current hour for delivery. It has to be at least during the next coming hour, so even if it’s only 9:01 PM, you would have to select 10-11 PM delivery time sot. That’s the only bad part, and otherwise, their delivery is quite on time from my one time experience.

I would suggest however that in their schedule, unavailable time slots become non-selectable rather than reloading the page and coming back with a popup error message.

Inventory:

This was so disappointing for me, as it makes you unsure if what you place in your basket is available or not, which is really a bad experience. You have the option however per item to allow substitute product in case your preference is not available. Good to have, but I’m surprised this option is selected by default. Maachla should not assume I am ok with a substitute of their choice. I should be asked to approve it. So careful when you’re checking out. If you don’t want it, uncheck the allow substitute boxes.

At all rates, I believe effort should be put into tying Maachla inventory system live with Mishref Co-Op one for live item and pricing update.

Variety:

If they are operating from their own store, I would understand. But securing the deal with Mishref Co-Op should mean much larger variety of items, that is as close to shopping at Mishref Co-Op experience. In my case however, I had to browse between brands, select my second or third brand preference, because the item that’s available in Mishref Co-Op is not available in the online store. And I wish it ends there. Even when you find the brand you want, finding the size you want is another task. The squeezed item photo does not help identify it, and many sizes are missing. And with soft drinks, when you open a can, you either drink it now, or throw it away. You can’t store it for later. However even trivial items like PEPSI did not have all the common sizes, I had to go with another one, and I couldn’t even get a box set, I had to order individual cans. 7-Up was not available at all for some reason as well.

How It Should Be?

I think it would be best if a single item like PEPSI would open a PEPSI page, and I get to select per unit or box, and the size I want. All available sizes should be there logically.

Customer Service:

Customer service quality was really high, you would feel comfortable speaking to the guy over the phone and feel he’s happy to help. The idea of registering your number once you call the hotline for them to get back, while neat, is a bit inconvenient for me the customer however. When I call, I might want to talk to the guy now as I will be busy in 5 minutes or so, and this is exactly what happened to me. I called, they saved my number. I had to finish some work and be away from the phone when they called back. I call again, have to wait for their call, only to get an international call by the time they’re calling me back.

My guess is this method saves them the cost of having customer service people on the standby 24/7 when they don’t have that heavy load. This way they can arrange for the call at their own time, but it comes at a cost I guess.

Pricing

This is where is struck me hard. At checkout, you get to see this confusing message.

So what they are literally saying here is you have no way of knowing the final bill until the items are delivered to your door. At least that’s how I understand it, and the way I do, it doesn’t make any sense, and if I don’t like the bill, I have the right to refuse payment then. And to approve or decline it, this means that I have to be present and cannot just hand over the money to the housemaid and head out to work.

I most certainly do not believe this term is there for Maachla to abuse, but it shows a kind of uncertainty in their item pricing and lack of price update. But for me the customer, how can I trust such a system? If I sense a difference in the bill, I have to manually compare each and every item. This is also related to the lack of an inventory system.

e-List:

The e-List is a quick way for you to write down items you want, quantity, size, and brand. You can leave the size and brand open, go to checkout quickly, and they would try to match your preference.

This I believe is a nice and easy way to finish your shopping, similar to handing over your grocery list for someone to do the shopping for you. I bet you can even specify here small PEPSI can and get it as well! Problem is, you have no clue about the pricing once again! A call before delivery would be good to confirm the final price.

Conclusion:

We believe Maachla.com has got all the hard elements of the equation in place. The store, the physical items, the delivery capacity. What they need is just to tie it stronger together. Have an updated inventory system, even if it’s a nightly update only, that would still be much better than the current situation. Give people the same physical experience by providing what’s already there. Faster and more AJAXed experience is always better as well.

If the problem of varieties is at least solved, and a guarantee of price range, I guess I could rely on this service for at least pre-packaged products. Fruits and vegetables are a different matter I say for now.

Popularity: 14% [?]

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: 34% [?]

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: 27% [?]

Masahati.com is a new site, still not open to the public. In their words:

“Masahati.com is the most up-to-date property listings for homes, apartments, offices, commercial spaces, and more!
Rent, lease, buy, and sell property easily and effortlessly online. Your property is just a click away!”

Kuwait has already many real estate classified sites, but none is comprehensive enough yet, and what the site developed by BLUGREY seems to be promising is quite a challenge I say. If we follow their words by heart, they are going to provide online service for selling and leasing property, and that does not mean advertising it only. Ofcourse there is the paper work you can’t avoid eventually, but are they providing here a place where you can reserve the property, make some type of initial payment or something like that?

Not clear now. All you can do is register to be notified of launch date, but the site does look promising from far away.

Popularity: 29% [?]

Name: Dikani.com

Launch Date: Nov, 2008

Languages: English/Arabic

Brief: Dikani.com is like a virtual Kuwait mall for sellers to open their virtual store through it and start selling instantly. Each seller gets his own subdomain on the site, e.g. shop.dikani.com, and each seller pays monthly fees for Dikani based on number of items advertised.

Review: The implementation of Dikani is unique in Kuwait, and is one of the few software as a service providers here now as well. I’ve heard quite several people sharing a thought for such an idea in Kuwait, but this one is the first to see the light. I have to say I was personally not convinced the idea in this way would would be a success, but it seems with the excessive online advertisement campaign by Dikani, things are starting to get some attention.

Right now, there is a total of 5 stores and around 70 items. Not much compared to the size of advertisement it’s making, but it’s still a start, and with a couple of success stories, I can see more people joining in. A point also to make is, for some reason most advertisement clicks take to 404 page rather than Dikani main page, so this must be affecting their conversion.

The target seller I think is small to medium. Small shops who are looking for quick ways to reach online audience. But I think people with highest interest will be the freelancers who normally sell their stuff at home or through friend links. Such a trend is quite popular in Kuwait, and this might be a good chance for them.

The down side of this service however is the cost. Not anywhere else on the net have I seen such an expensive service, and I’m not talking about double the price only here. 45 KD for 20 items only as the minimum offer, and it goes up to 615 KD for 1000 items! The one month free startup is I think what’s keeping stores now open, but with this price it means any seller will only join if he can guarantee minimum of 100 KD income, in which case he can easily hire someone to develop him his own custom unique site and cut down the cost. 45 KD by it self I think is way too expensive, and to limit this price to 20 items only is another bad thing. We all know for that price you can buy a TB of storage. The cost includes service fees as well alright, but still I believe the cost is not justifiable. Compare this to Shopify, which allows 10 items for FREE, and 100 items for $24/month. This includes various customization and extra features that seems to be missing from Dikani.com. If there is one thing that will stand in the face of this service, I believe it would be the cost.

Pros:

• For sellers, quick and easy way to online sales
• Sellers will get FREE exposure among other stores on Dikani without having to make any advertisements, just as you would get FREE customers inside a real mall.
• Customers can shop multiple stores at the same time, and checkout only once.
• Freelance sellers without physical locations can utilize this to reach wider audience

Cons:

• Cost: Cost of the service is pretty high, and to be cost-effective for the seller, the customer may end up paying for extra profit margin on the items.
• Delivery: It’s really not clear how delivery is made. Some stores mention delivery, while others don’t. If they don’t mention the delivery, then what does that mean, and how can I get my item then? Do I have to drive there and get it? Doesn’t sound like online shopping then. Also, on my test checkout from multiple stores, all I got was a message that I will be contacted by the seller soon. I personally hate online shopping that ends up with phone calls, simply because it’s not 100% online and it’s not convenient. If I shop from 5 stores, I will get minimum of 5 calls, and I have no clue about the delivery time. Personally, I didn’t feel comfortable with it.
• Upon checkout, i did not receive any email confirmation for my order, which is really what I would rely on for future reference.
• Lack of customization: Without trying a seller account ofcourse, from the outside it seems to be lacking customization features per seller, which would allow them for more personalization.
• Support & Credibility: Most stores, or perhaps all of them, do not offer any refund or exchange policy. Many of them also are not real stores, and they are not people you know either. Those things would make me think twice and hesitate before buying from any of them. There are some real physical furniture stores however it seems joining the service.

Related Links:

Andra & my Backbone Review
Fonzation

Popularity: 29% [?]