The Verdict is Out! Souq vs Noon experience wearing my customer hat

Noon, the US$1 billion e-commerce platform founded by Mr. Mohamed Alabbar, started operations in the UAE on Saturday, 30th September 2017 to tap into the region's fast growing e-commerce industry that is forecast to double in size by 2021. Noon also got  the Kuwait's leading retail business, M.H AlShaya Co. to invest in the platform.

The platform is set to go live in Saudi Arabia "in the coming weeks", the company said in a statement on Saturday.

Thus, I decided to be one of the first customers buying the same product from newly launched NOON.com and it's recently acquired by Amazon competitor Souq.com. I’ll list out the events and experiences throughout the product purchase, prices, delivery, and my satisfaction, here it goes:

ONBOARDING AND PURCHASING

I opened my phone browser, immediately after hearing the much awaited launch news of NOON.com, clicked on signup, and noticed no requirement for a social login option (which I actually think is great), and proceeded smoothly with only giving necessary information (name, e-mail address and a password), as compared to the competition (I still don’t understand why I would select my gender here).

Further browsing and selection of product was similar till I picked my option, moving ahead was well-guided and well-organized adding basic things e.g. guidance towards how to enter an address as in the figure given below. These simple instructions are thoughtfully out. 

DEFECTS

If you are using adblocker, there is a possibility you’ll face the same error as I did on Souq.com while proceeding with the checkout.

         

PRODUCTS CATALOG

It goes without saying, Amazon backed Souq.com has a wider range and category of products listed on the online channel which beats probably any e-commerce platform in Middle East region. I will give them that, for sure. 

Noon, on the other hand just launched with a significantly great variety of products but they require time to compete and build up a wider product range.

DELIVERY AND SERVICE

Noon delivered my order at the speed of light, literally. Ordered around 22:30 hours, and got a call from CFC (Noon express) early morning right the next day to schedule a delivery time. As I was home, I got the delivery before 9:30 am. Noon's delivery guy, Arnel was amazing, humorous and I felt good interacting with him. I was pleasantly surprised to have received an online order within 12 hours. 

For Souq, they committed to 4 days, and moreover, the delivery guy came at his will. I really don’t understand why professional delivery companies can't check before showing up at my place. I was not home and he had to wait for 20 minutes till I got home. I could tell the delivery person was irritated although I wasn't informed that he'll be showing up. 

Being an old customer of souq.com, I have always experienced trouble with delivery. My argument is if I have to be bothered I might as well go to the physical outlet and purchase it directly. The concept of an online experience is, making it hassle-free for customers. Basically making it convenient but this clearly is anything but convenient. 

PACKAGING

Perfectly clean and secure packing with an air cushion tucked inside. It's not only environmental-friendly, but they also step ahead to include a customer 'Thank You' note. It gives a great element of personal interaction. This kind of packing might not be very cost effective in the long run.

Cheap packing, not environmental friendly but it does the job.

COST

AED 165 by Noon Vs. AED 205 by Souq

I ordered the same product from both websites, which was a Seagate Expandable 1tb HDD.

The item was ordered through labeled "fulfilled by Souq" merchant, which charged 195 AED plus 10 AED shipping charges, so a total of 205 AED. Had I selected COD, I would end up paying 209 AED for the ordered hard-drive.

The price I got at Noon was much better, 165 AED with merchant labeled "fulfilled by Noon" and no shipping charges or extra cash to be paid on delivery.

SERVICE EXPERIENCE

A simple and well-guided user journey for Noon.com makes the whole online shopping experience really amazing. For my experience, it started while exiting from Mall of the Emirates and going towards my car the day of launch around 10:30 pm. I signed up easily, browsed around, found an item I was interested in, placed the order, added my delivery location and as I got to the payment step, I was sitting inside my car. I quickly took out my credit card, started the engine, entered the information and that’s about it. I had my first order placed before I could drive away.

With such an order placing experience, I wasn’t surprised when the Noon express (CFC) called to check if I was home right the very next morning. A few minutes later, it was there. How can I not trust such a service that shows putting customer values first. A cherry on top was the nice thank you note inside the box. #noonlove ends the whole experience with such a positive feel. 

While for Souq.com portal experience was the good, ordering through the vast selection of products but even with an item value of 195 AED, I had to pay extra for shipping. I really like the integration with Easy Installments option that I can use someday for higher value purchases.

After placing the order, I got bombarded with emails and text messages but I have to point out, where it mattered Souq made no contact. I got a call from the delivery person, standing outside my door while I wasn’t home. So I had to make him wait 20 minutes, drive back home to collect the item.

THE VERDICT

Overall, Souq has been an older player so I would definitely rate my experience with NOON much better, and a clear win.

This is the time Souq should really look out, and take proper measures in order to keep their top position because they have a real competitor and its growing stronger by the day. 

Noon on the other hand, launched in a proper professional way, backed up with all of industry’s top-notch and experienced resources, hats off to them. Tip for Noon, if they can maintain such a service in the longer run, reaching the top position across entire GCC wouldn’t be a big challenge! Bravo Noon 

Take a guess where would I place my next order online?