By Sachin Kumar
DOHA: Customers in Qatar will soon be able to buy goods from international portals. Q-Post (Qatar Postal Services Company) is planning to expand its presence in Europe, United States of America and Asia.
The move will allow residents in Qatar to buy goods even from those online retailers that do not offer shipping services to Qatar. The new service of Q-post, named Ship 2-Q, is expected to start early next year.
“We plan to launch Ship 2-Q service from first quarter of next year,” Faleh Mohamed Al Naemi, Chairman and Managing Director, Q-Post told The Peninsula on the sidelines of a conference on e-commerce held recently in Doha. “The new service will provide customers in Qatar with virtual addresses to shop from America, Europe and Asia,” he added.
Currently, residents in Qatar cannot order goods from many online retailers because these retailers do not offer shipping services in Qatar.
Under the new service, Q-Post will provide a local address to its customers in America, Europe and Asia.
A local customer, after completing payment process with the online retailer, will give his local address (provided by Q-Post) in that particular country.
The retailer will deliver the package to the local address given by the buyer in Qatar.
Once the package is delivered to the local address, Q-Post will collect the package and ship it to the buyer’s local address in Qatar.
“Customers in Qatar will be given local address in America, Europe and Asia which will allow them (online retailers) to ship it to there and we will forward the package to the buyer,” said Al Naemi.
Q-Post will open storage facilities in America, Europe and Asia including China and Japan. This new initiative by Q-Post is part of its strategy to encourage growth of e-commerce in Qatar.
It also has plans to launch many other products that will boost e-commerce in Qatar. It is planning to introduce ‘e-Locker’ service in Qatar in the first quarter of next year.
This service intends to provide flexibility in delivery of goods to residents. Q-Post will open ‘e-Lockers’ in convenient locations such as malls, shopping centres, residential areas and educational campuses.
These lockers will be accessible 24 hours and will give customers flexibility to collect package anytime. In the first phase, Q-Post plans to open 10-20 such lockers and most of these will be opened in Doha. Other areas in Qatar will be used in later stages.
The peninsula
