JD.com enters the Middle East and joins hands with UAE fashion e-commerce Namshi to help Chinese products go global

According to a recent report by Arab News, JD.com has signed a cooperation agreement with Namshi, an Emirati fashion e-commerce company under Dubai's Emaar Mall, to enter the Middle East fashion e-commerce market.

It is reported that JD.com will help Chinese fashion brands such as Baleno, DODOGOGO, Latit and MO&Co to sell to many countries in the Middle East through Namshi. Namshi will provide JD.com with local logistics, warehousing, marketing and content creation support. Namshi said the company also plans to launch several more Chinese fashion and lifestyle brands later this month.

Hadi Badri, chairman of Namshi , said: "The strategic alliance between Namshi and JD.com is of great significance. Through cooperation with JD.com, Namshi consumers in the Middle East and other regions will have the opportunity to access a wider variety of exclusive brands." Hadi believes that the cooperation between JD.com and Namshi will further promote the development of e-commerce in fashion life in the Middle East.

This is not the first time that JD.com has taken action in overseas e-commerce. In March 2016 , JD.com's joint venture e-commerce platform JD.ID expanded into the Indonesian market. In May 2017, JD.com established a strategic partnership with fashion e-commerce company Farfetch; in November, JD.com led the investment in Bangkok online brand Pomelo. This year, JD.com helped Walmart complete the first batch of cross-border e-commerce export sellers in China.

Namshi, the brand that JD.com is collaborating with this time, has a leading position in the field of fashion e-commerce in the Middle East. Namshi was founded in 2011, and its brand name means "forward" in Arabic. As of now, Namshi has six major sites in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar. In addition, Namshi is also sold to nearly 100 countries and regions around the world, including China.

In May 2017 , Emaar Malls, the retail subsidiary of Dubai's Emaar Properties, acquired a 51% stake in Namshi for $151 million. In February 2019, the company bought 49% from Germany's Rocket Internet.

According to the 2020 financial report released by Emaar Shopping Center, the parent company of Namshi, Emaar Shopping Center's revenue fell by 24.8% in 2020 to 3.51 billion UAE dirhams (about 6.25 billion yuan). However, Namshi's sales in the same period increased by 28% to 1.316 billion UAE dirhams (about 2.343 billion yuan).

Saudi Arabia is a major sales hub for Namshi among all countries. A Namshi spokesman said the company's sales in Saudi Arabia grew 50% last year, and 70% of its total revenue last year came from Saudi Arabia.

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