Noon.com will launch operations in Saudi Arabia and the UAE in January
Mohamed Alabbar and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) are teaming up to launch a Middle Eastern e-commerce platform, the Dubai-based billionaire announced recently.
At the media launch at Dubai Opera, Alabbar described the new e-commerce venture - Noon.com - as “game changing".
"We're turning the e-commerce environment in Middle East upside down," he said, "and then we're going to turn it upside down again in another six months."
Alabbar revealed that Noon.com will have 20 million products on the platform on day one when it launches next January. The average shopping mall in Dubai has 1.5 million goods, he said.
The warehouse facility in Dubai is the size of 60 football pitches, he added.
Investors are initially contributing $1 billion to the project, which will be 50 percent owned by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, Alabbar said. The other 50 percent will be owned by Alabbar and other regional investors.
Noon.com will launch operations in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with launches planned for other Arab countries at a later date.
