Mumzworld, the latest entrant into the Middle East’s burgeoning e-commerce industry is determined to make online shopping a more pleasurable experience for the mother, baby and child segment within and outside the region.
The company exists to fill a retail gap, says CEO Mona Ataya, who felt that even Dubai – a shopping haven in its own right – has failed to meet the product needs of the market segment that
Mumzworld currently serves.
For Ataya, who previously worked at Johnson & Johnson’s office in Zurich, Switzerland and was one of the founding partners of Middle East jobs site Bayt.com, Mumzworld was more of a response to the challenges she personally experienced as a mother looking for value-for-money products for her children.
“I considered myself a very resourceful person, relatively educated so I pretty much know where to find what. But when I got pregnant with my twin boys [in 2003], I was stuck. I really had no idea what products I need to buy [or where to get them],” she said in an interview with Alrroya.com.
As a first-time mum back then, Ataya said she had many questions about products and how those items could help her take care of her babies, but shop attendees could offer little help to satisfy her inquisitiveness.
“I would ask questions like: ‘Is it better for twins to sit in a stroller with double seats or [should I just get] two different strollers? What’s better for them psychologically and physically?’ And a lot of the stores couldn’t really help me because [shop employees] manage inventories and didn’t really know the ins and outs of the products,” she said.
Ataya turned to the internet for informational support, researching and comparing products that were often not available in the UAE and had to be sourced from the United States and the United Kingdom.
“[My husband and I] ended up buying everything from abroad because we couldn’t find these products locally and even if they did exist locally, we didn’t know where to look,” she added.
Now a mother of three boys, Ataya said like many parents, she continues to face challenges in deciding which products would be best for her children. It was in April when she finally took the bull by the horns (figuratively speaking) and brought the concept of an exclusive online store for mothers, babies and children to fruition.
The Dubai-based Mumzworld officially opened its e-shop doors in October and within just a couple of months, expanded its stocks to 32,000 products that include practically all the essentials of parenthood – feeding bottles, clothes, toys, books, first aid kits and even potty trainers.
Convenient shopping at competitive prices
Ataya said Mumzworld allows mothers to do what she couldn’t do eight years ago and that is to search, compare and buy products without even leaving their homes and get the items delivered to their doorstep within three days, if they are based in the UAE ; and five days for an overseas address.
Mumzworld, which stocks products from major brands such as Chicco, Dr Brown's, Fisher Price, Graco, Lamaze, Little Tikes, Osh Kosh B'Gosh and Philips Avent, also gives customers the option to pay either by credit card, PayPal or cash on delivery.
But more importantly, Ataya said their products offer very competitive prices when compared with actual retail stores.
“Our prices are minimally equal, mostly cheaper [than stores] because we only go to retailers pricing products at margins that are reasonable compared with distributors. We’ve done our research and we know what the distributors and retailers charge. In instances where we feel the retailers are [overcharging], we go directly to the distributor; and if distributors are [overcharging], we go directly to the [manufacturers],” she explained.
Ataya mentioned they are very confident about their prices that they have offered a best price guarantee scheme for their customers.
“For example a customer buys a Fisher Price rocker from us and finds the same item Dh10 [$3] cheaper in Baby Shop, we will compensate the customer with Dh10. That’s how confident we are of our prices,” she said.
Asked how Mumzworld can contribute to the regional e-commerce industry, Ataya said it is by setting the standard for what an e-commerce site is supposed to be.
“An e-commerce site is not only about displaying catalogue. It’s more than that. It’s about communicating, creating a relationship with the customers and delivering exceptional customer service,” she said.
Network of informed consumers
Internet and the power of search engines such as Google have afforded many consumers the opportunity to access unlimited information about products before they actually made a purchase. In this regard, consumers’ buying habits are oftentimes influenced by the amount of data available to them.
Ataya believes that educated consumers are empowered because they are equipped with the knowledge to make informed decision.
“Mothers want to feel empowered that they are making the best decision and for them to feel empowered, they need to be educated through reading up and asking for advice. Yes, consumers know what they want in the sense that parents know that they want the best [for their kids] at the best value. [But] do they know which products they want? They really don’t,” she said.
Mumzworld attempts to address the concern by offering product description of items in their stock and allowing customers to post reviews about products they bought.
Ataya said in their first year of operation, they hope to make Mumzworld synonymous with shopping for their target market.
“[We hope to] change the playing field of shopping so if you’re a mother, a father, or someone who has a relationship with a child, Mumzworld is your default place to shop,” she said.
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