On a digital shopping Sprii

The marketplace now features more than 850 brands and 44,000 products

Have you ever shopped online, say from eBay, to sell it online, on eBay itself - for a profit? Yes, at first, we smirked too, but Sprii.com CEO Sarah Jones turned that seemingly unfeasible idea into a profitable business in her teens.
Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug when she was all of 14, an age when most girls are busy working on their selfie pose, Sarah made her first profit by importing items from across the globe and selling them online in the UK - all on eBay.
That first spark ignited her passion for e-commerce and helped her develop an acute business mind in the process.
Four years later, a degree in Economics at Edinburgh University beckoned, which not only heightened Sarah's financial acumen but also her highly competitive nature. Her placement at Deloitte London in the Mergers & Acquisitions team led to an international secondment in the Middle East a few years later.
The startup world, reacting to market needs and customers' demands, was always appealing her. With a passion for buying and selling, and the acumen to spot an e-commerce gap in the market, she decided to take the plunge and set up her business.
In 2014, Sarah launched the Mini Exchange in the UAE with 500 items. In a year-and-a-half, the start-up achieved its first round of fundraising of Dh4 million ($1.1 million). Within less than three years of its founding, the UAE-based online marketplace closed a second fundraising round, of Dh11 million ($3 million) in September 2016 to support its regional growth plans.
The marketplace now features more than 850 brands and 44,000 products. Following the fund-raising, the company has launched an English and Arabic app, and is set to expand into new markets to grow its customer base.
The e-commerce market in the UAE is estimated to be worth $2.5 billion (Dh9.2 billion) at present, and is forecasted to reach $10 billion (Dh36.7 billion) by 2018, according to Frost& Sullivan.
"We're known in the region for being the destination for everything mum and baby, however, this year will see an exciting shift for us as we expand into new categories; specifically, beauty, home and fitness," Sarah says.
Adding homeware and beauty to the website last year was just the start of a journey to become the lifestyle destination of choice for all women in the Middle East, she says.
"We have been transitioning since our inception; starting life as a marketplace, becoming an e-commerce platform for everything mum and kids and now we're taking that one step further; a lifestyle destination where you can shop exclusive and curated brands all in one place," she says.
Passion re-born
Regarding the rebrand of Mini Exchange, Sarah says: "This name completely embodies what we are all about as a brand; energetic, free, fun, passionate and confident. Sprii.com plays on the traditional shopping 'spree' origin and mentality - the world is fast-paced, busy women have no time to wait or indeed shop around, they want their fix as soon as possible, they want to be offered incredible choice and they want to be introduced to something new."
Sarah is quick to add that rebranding is just 'an evolution' as a business to better answer its customers' needs. "They demand a fast and fearless shopping experience, where they can get everything they need in one place and look to us to as the voice of authority when it comes to what's new and trending," she says.
"Our product mix has changed over time and we needed to update our name and branding to reflect this. Sprii.com is Mini Exchange 3.0, the evolution cycle complete as we become a curated lifestyle hub for the every-women to engage, discover, interact and shop," she says.
"We're an online destination where your wish list can become a reality. We are for every woman - no one is excluded here," says Sarah. The site caters to customers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, but as Sarah puts it, for e-commerce, "the sky is the limit".
A recent research from Euromonitor International says Internet retail sales are expected to grow by 95 per cent in the UAE over the next five years and Internet retailing in the UAE will benefit from a "surge in consumer enthusiasm and confidence".
"Another challenge is ensuring we keep up with our own standards. We [take] onboard 20 new brands a week; so our customers have the widest choice of products in the region - that is a huge undertaking. You need a team willing to go the extra mile to achieve that and I'm very proud to say that we do".
UX + UI = USP
Ahmed Elfiky, Head of Marketing, says that Sprii.com is a technology platform that holds no stock at all, which is the basis for its business model - this alone makes it fairly unique, however, it is the customer experience that we offer which really sets it apart.
"We are constantly looking to improve our UX/UI offering, in line with what our users expect and want from their e-commerce experience. Putting the consumer at the heart of what we do - from personalisation to an excellent in-house customer service team - means that each time they shop with us they receive a consistently good experience".
- riaz@khaleejtimes.com