Qatari entrepreneur to launch online app for home delivery for medicines and a wide range of other products
A budding Qatari woman entrepreneur is set to launch an online shopping platform and home delivery services for a wide-range of products, including medicine and other pharmacy related items.
The mobile application ShahBandar is ready to be launched within weeks, and the online ordering platform will help users to cover all customer needs. The users will have access to thousands of products such as medicine, groceries, and food items among other products which can be ordered direct through the app without having to wait at counters and save time.
“ShahBandar aims to be the first all-inclusive e-commerce platform in Qatar. It will cover all customer needs, including medicine and other products of daily needs. We value customer’s time that they spend in shopping. We also aim to eliminate distance and ensure quality services at customer’s convenience,” Dhabia Youssef Alali, Founder of ShahBandar, told The Peninsula in an online interview, yesterday.
Alali, who is also a trained banking and finance industry professional, added: “Our app features an easy shopping process in various categories and delivers products at their doorstep. We will be using a safe credit card payment platform with most trustworthy payment gateways to ensure the best possible safety.”
Dhabia Youssef Alali, Founder of ShahBandar
Commenting about the business idea and the name of the app, she said that most of the people in Qatar are working professionals and businessmen who prefer to save time for more important and productive things. Qatar, with the highest level of smartphone and Internet penetration, e-commerce is the need of the hour. In addition, the outbreak of COVID-19 has made online trading the most pressing need for people today than any time in the past as most of the people are working from home to stay safe and contain the spread of the virus.
On the name, she explained that Shahbandar was a highly esteemed title which was carried by the Sheikh of merchants during the Ottoman era. “The Shahbandar was always present when needed, as a mediator attesting to trade transactions and managing trading activities in the market with great care and wisdom at that time. We grew up listening to and watching about the stories of Shahbandar. He is a very popular figure in the region,” noted Alali.
About the benefits ShahBandar will bring to its partners, she said that it enjoys a very close and collaborative working relationship with several pharmacies, retailers, shops and restaurants, and also working to rope-in several others to formally launch the app soon.
“We intend to help our partners to create new customers for them who will not only order goods via ShahBandar but also visit them. The online platform will also drive demand, especially during the week days when retailers are less busy, which will boost their business and increase revenue. This is a win-win situation,” added Alali.
“We can handle the payment process between our partners and customers. ShahBandar will take care of the delivery process and our partners can focus on what they do the best. We will also market their business both offline and online, via digital marketing like social media, including Facebook, Whatsapp, Youtube and others.”
