Q8Ba7th Official Blog

Name: Kuwaiter.com

Category: Community / Information

Language: English

Brief: Community driven site for Kuwait upcoming events, offers, and for people to express their wishes by demanding certain events.

Review: Seeing it emerge only less than a year ago, the site right now is covering quite a lot about the upcoming events in Kuwait, with the ability to comment and rate these events. This events list can be really handy for both consumers and business owners to see what’s out there and reach out. Another less populated section gives you the current offers available in the market, and it’s up to the business owners here to really fully utilize it. The neat part I see is the Demand section, which allows you to express your desire for a certain type of events, and then more and more people can share your demand. Business owners can then simply see the trend and desire, to fulfill what people already need. That’s a small market study for FREE.

Should You Sign-Up with Kuwaiter.com?

Kuwaiter.com believes so for the following benefits:

1. Keeping track and sharing events with friends and community members.
2. Adding your own events for “free” and promoting events to the entire Kuwaiti community.
3. Create groups and share similar interests with the community.
4. Easily export events via calendar widgets or tools.
5. Send the event to your email, print a copy and/or invite your friends to it.
6. You will have your own “personal community page” which allows you to see who your friendsare, what events and groups your friends are joining.

Warning About Registration!

My biggest frustration of the site came after I received a spam email from someone saying she found my contact info @ Kuwaiter.com. I was stunned and when I checked my profile, it seems my email used for registration was put on publicly without my consent. I checked their Privacy Policy page to see if I missed something, and no, they’re not supposed to do this.

I went to my profile page and realized my Profile info has been set to Public by default, which doesn’t make any sense. Even if I chose to make it public, usually profile information does not enforce sharing of user’s email account. So if you want to register, definitely make sure you visit the Profile page immediately after sign-up and adjusting the privacy to your likings.

Suggestions:

• Preserve user privacy: Simply allow users to opt-in for sharing their email and other profile info publicly. By default, private information should be, umm private!
• Tags for Events: If you go right now, you will see loads of events, many of which are for elections. Now you may be interested in Shopping events only for instance, so it would be nice to allow tags to distinguish event types, and help people see what they like. Yes there are categories right now, but they’re not really enforced nor followed, and I don’t see an easy way to filter events out.
• RSS Feed for Events: Right now, there is an RSS for the news only, which isn’t really the main content of the site. People would come here for events, and I bet they would like to subscribe for RSS of their favorite events, e.g. Shopping, Electronics or so.

Summary:

With the exception of the Privacy issue, I’m pretty impressed by the amount of content so far put in the site, keeping it always fresh, and would wish to see more extensibility and ease of reach for it.

UPDATE: I’m not sure if this is a coincidence or a response, but I received this email few minutes ago from Kuwaiter.com:

So personally I’m always happy to see strong actions taken against spamming, but Kuwaiter.com should’ve been more careful about disclosing people’s email in the first place. Public email is an open invitation for spammers. Thanks though for starting to take corrective measures.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Name: Wazeefa1.com

Category: Jobs

Language: English

UPDATE: The site has been noted for being affiliated with spamming user emails, and as a result we strongly advice against sharing any of your personal information with them.

Review: New still growing jobs site for the Arab region, with current 121 jobs in Kuwait, most highest country in the site. Judging on that number, and the type of ads, one could guess it’s a Kuwaiti initiated site. The good thing about this job site is that job seekers and employers alike seem to be able to register and post for FREE, and you don’t need to be registered to see the available job listings and details as some others tend to do. To apply for a job however, yes this needs a registration. Still though, if you’ve got all the job details, including the company name, then you only need to register if you want to apply online. Otherwise just drive your car there and submit your papers.

Popularity: 28% [?]

Name: Q8Tutors.com

Business Type: Education

Languages: Arabic

Launch Date: March, 2009 (Beta)

Brief:
Q8Tutors.com is new idea in Kuwait for private tutors listing, still in Beta stage. The site has a design of it’s simplest form, and a very direct tutor search feature covering all education level from elementary school to Bachelors and Masters. You can filter by tutor gender, subject (which still needs to have more varieties), and educational level.

Tutors can also freely advertise and list their services for FREE and on the fly. People searching will not be able to see the name but only details and contact info.

The site is still fairly new and not fully occupied yet, but with time I guess it’s gonna be a big traffic with our classified ad newspapers full of such paid advertisements that are hard to find and filter. An advantage of having the listings online however would be more information about the tutor, like pricing, and the review of students who hired him/her. That would really give a great value for the student, as it’s one thing to find a tutor, and it’s a completely different thing to find a good tutor. This is what’s missing from the classified ads.

Ofcourse, one could also argue about the ethics of teachers giving private lessons, but that’s up to the single individual I guess.

Snapshot:

Popularity: 35% [?]

Name: Q8eGifts.com

Business Type: Gifts Shopping

Language: English/Arabic

Launch Date: First seen November, 2008

Brief: Kuwait online gift shopping site offering flower bouquets and chocolate gifts.

Review: Q8eGifts comes with a unique theme of it’s own, and a nice design aimed at showing best offers at the top. The variety and type of products offered so far are not so attractive, while I do notice some slight updates on the gifts collection, they do need a wider range to choose from, and it definitely needs more original or unique content of its own to separate it from the rest, rather than regular chocolates you can find at the grocery nearby you.

Popularity: 25% [?]

With every new year people come up with their own new year resolutions. Targets they want to achieve, and things they want to improve on. A logical question is why does it have to be at the beginning of the year rather than whenever they really feel like it. Two main reasons maybe (besides following the crowd blindly :

1- It would give the person a good time line to measure his progress over the course of next year.
2- New year gives the feeling of a new beginning.

At all rates, I thought of sharing today the new started blog of a friend. Personal Growth Map is not really a typical type of blog that we have in Kuwait, but is rather a blog focused purely towards the personal improvement and development. And in his words, here is what Haider wants to achieve from his site:

• To explain what personal development is, so that you can develop a more comprehensive understanding of the subject, and how everything else fits into it
• To help you make the best use of the personal development resources you already have, and the information you come across
• To propose a way in which personal development material should be presented by other websites, to make them easier for us all to use
• To present the Personal Growth Map, which is an approach that I developed for personal development that makes having a balanced life very achievable

The blog has only launched in December 08, but has recently been kept updated regularly on an almost daily basis. Hoping it will you you, me and others stay motivated throughout the year in pursuing our year resolutions.

Popularity: 26% [?]

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: 36% [?]

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: 56% [?]

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% [?]

Kuwait International Fair Co., established in 1971, is the oldest and I think the only exhibition company holding it’s own grounds, occupying huge space land. Ever since then however, the development rate of this exhibition is really in the micro-level and can barely be seen.

As I was planning to go to the 33rd Books Exhibition, being it Friday I wanted to make sure the exhibition is open. Going to their amaturish site, the Working hours section had only the main office working hours. What about the exhibition working hours? They didn’t just forget it. They knew it’s different, and they even say it:

OK, so where do we find the exhibition opening hours? In the Events Calendar? The worst exhibition event calendar I’ve seen. All it has is the name, dates, and halls of the exhibition. After 33 years of arranging this exhibition, don’t you have any more information to give? Such information as:

• Working hours
• # Participants
• Categories of books visitor could find
• Map of the area and categories inside it
• Stats about previous exhibitions, is it growing larger, and at what rate. How many people usually attend the exhibition? Such things are more critical to you, KIF, and the exhibitors than the customer how could you miss it?
• Specific page per exhibition is definitely needed. Some detailed specific information about each exhibition. Give value, give credit, grab attention. Only few exhibitions have links with very shallow information
• No galleries and past events information

Wanna laugh more? See the Halls Availability. If you can travel back in time, hopefully you can find empty halls back in 2006 or 7.

Eventually, we had to call relatives to find out they don’t open Friday morning. Going in the afternoon, at little before 4 PM, there was literally no note about when are the opening hours at the door. I had to ask the snacks seller outside who told me it opens at 4:30. To our surprise, the doors opened at 4 PM and people started going in. Going inside, there were so many booths without sellers, so I could basically take all I want and leave. Their argument was, opening hours are supposedly 4:30 PM. Good, then don’t open before it, and deliver the message clearly so that people don’t line up early ahead. And even after 4:30 PM, there were still booths without sellers, and even worse, some new comer newspapers had reserved the booth but could not afford to have a person standing there, so all there is was an empty table, or sometimes this was lacking also. You could see pile of newspapers lying on the floor, and that was all of it.

Such things are not bad for the exhibitor only, but is bad for the overall image of the exhibition and would drive people away from it. Good control and penalty should be imposed on exhibitors. You take the place, you use it. Empty space looks really bad and gives bad impression about the overall quality, and usefulness of the expo.

The variety of books I guess were large, but I really did not have enough time to look around (thanks to my kid!), however the best part for me was the arts section showing some really talented Kuwaiti drawings.

I will try to post the few snapshots I took when I figure why my HTC won’t beam, sync, or fails to upload to any image site I visit.

FINAL NOTE: The Arabic Books Exhibition is supposed to be a face of Kuwait, and so is the Kuwait International Fair Co. Yet, it is the only exhibition where I don’t see any people trying to run stats, get reviews, push forward and improve. It’s basically the same year after year. Thanks only yo those exhibitors who can tolerate it, and bring new stuff to it. I was personally really disappointed and shocked when I saw it. I don’t usually go there very often, and before, I did not think of how bad those expos are, how the quality and focus are completely behind. This year however, I could not take it.

Really wish to see some serious revamp in this huge garbaged area. Supposed to be modernized, but it’s all dirty and unwisely used.

Popularity: 26% [?]