Noon, the United Arab Emirates-based online shopping platform, isto start selling groceries, the company’s founder, Mohamed Alabbar, said in an television interview with CNN.

“Our aim is that you come to our website and our app many times during the day and grocery is a critical part of your life and your family life,” Alabbar said in a video clip posted on the CNN website on Monday.

When asked about the timeframe for noon to enter the online groceries business, Alabbar said: “I think we should look at six months from now for us to start the business”, adding that the company is already exploring potential partnership opportunities for the new groceries division.

Alabbar said if noon was unable to find a suitable partner, “we will buy somebody”.

Jannie Holtzhausen, a former chief executive officer (CEO) of the Spinneys Dubai supermarket chain told Zawya last year that online apps selling groceries and fresh food items are neither financially profitable nor logistically sustainable. However, Alabbar told CNN that “the digital economy is everything”.

Alabbar, who is the chairman of Emaar Properties, has backed the noon venture, along with investment from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Kuwait's retail group MH Alshaya, with an initial investment totaling around $1 billion. The portal was launched in the UAE and Saudi Arabia last year.

Last week, it announced plans to introduce products from China and Hong Kong on its e-commerce portals in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The company also said last month that it had entered into a deal with online marketplace eBay to source products from the United States from the second half of this year.

The e-commerce market is growing at a fast pace in the GCC - a region with a mainly young and tech-savvy population. It is forecasted to grow to $24 billion by year 2020, up from $15 billion this year, according to a report issued by consultancy firm A.T. Kearney.

(Writing by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Michael Fahy and Shane McGinley)

(yasmine.saleh@thomsonreuters.com)

© ZAWYA 2018