Amazon completes acquisition of Dubai’s Souq.com

Global e-commerce giant Amazon has officially completed the acquisition of Dubai-based online retailer Souq.com, it was announced on Monday.

As the first step of integration, Amazon users can now use their details to log on to Souq.com, a statement said.

The acquisition, which was announced in March this year, signals the entry of Amazon into the Middle East market.

Read: Amazon announces acquisition of UAE-based Souq.com

The size of the deal was not disclosed, but it is estimated to be worth between $580m to $750m.

Ronaldo Mouchawar, the CEO and co-founder of Souq.com confirmed at the time that the deal also included Souq’s payment, logistics and aftersales businesses and was motivated by the need to meet a “massive uptake” in the regional e-commerce market in the next three years.

Read more: Souq CEO to retain role following Amazon deal

“It is an exhilarating time for the e-commerce industry in the region. Together with Amazon, our goal is to offer our customers the widest product selection, great prices, improved delivery times and first-rate customer service,” said Mouchawar.

The deal will see further integration of Amazon’s technology and global resources into Souq’s platform, the companies said.

Plans regarding other areas like the introduction of Amazon’s drone delivery platform in the region have not been disclosed.

So far, it also seems like Souq.com will retain its brand rather than adopt Amazon’s name.

Souq currently offers 8.4 million products across 31 categories including consumer electronics, fashion, household goods, and baby products. It also recently expanded into books and groceries.

The retailer has 45 million visits per month and operates directly in the UAE, Egypt, Saudi and Kuwait, with shipping also available to Oman, Bahrain and Qatar.

The online retail industry in the Middle East – and specifically the UAE – has been seeing strong M&A activity in recent months.

In May, Dubai-based e-commerce platform JadoPado was acquired by a tech fund led by businessman Mohamed Alabbar.

Read more: UAE website JadoPado acquired by Dubai billionaire Alabbar-led tech fund

There are also talks about Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba eyeing the local market.

Read more: China’s Alibaba likely to eye Middle East market for acquisitions – expert