US e-commerce giant looking to expand regionally, says Grandinetti
Souq.com will continue to operate its current website as is for the time being, a senior Amazon.com executive has said.
On Monday, the US e-commerce giant completed the acquisition of Souq.com after signing an agreement to acquire the Middle East e-retailer for $580 million (AED2.13 billion) in cash in March. The company revealed the cost of purchase in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
“For now, Souq.com will continue to operate its current websites as is,” Amazon senior vice president, International Consumer, Russ Grandinetti, told Arabian Business.
In a joint press statement, the companies said they have taken the “first step of integration”, allowing customers to log on to souq.com using their Amazon credentials, which was first reported by Arabian Business in May.
“We have had customers in this region for a long time that we’ve served from our other global websites – by acquiring Souq.com, we are now even closer to our customers in the Middle East and we'll be able to serve them even better. We just completed acquisition and are now seamlessly moving into the next phase of the integration,” Grandinetti said, without giving details of the new phase.
He disclosed Amazon was planning expansion in the region over time and would be hiring more regional talent.
At present, Souq.com operates in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Bahrain and Oman.
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