Baladi Express online platform launched with over 150,000 products

Souq Al Baladi has launched Baladi Express, the "biggest online shopping platform in the country", during a ceremony held Saturday at Velero Hotel in Lusail.
The ceremony was attended by Al Baladi Holding Group chairman Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Attiyah and FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta.
A number of dignitaries and industry officials were present on the occasion.
The launch event featured an audio-visual video presentation on navigating the online shopping platform.
Local sporting hero Nasser al-Attiyah and football legend Ronaldinho will be the brand ambassadors of Baladi Express, it was revealed.
Baladi Express offers the "largest selection" of brands with over 150,000 items, and includes deliveries from more than 3,000 restaurants in Qatar.
Speaking on the launch of Baladi Express, Group chairman al-Attiyah said: “We have launched Baladi Express with a promise to make it the Arabic equivalent of Amazon and Alibaba.”
“It is an e-commerce platform born from the renowned Souq Al Baladi, a subsidiary of Al Baladi Group,” he said. “Our mission is to grow and thrive as a local and regional online retail brand. Our vision is to be number one in Qatar first and then we will roll out this experience in different countries in the GCC, Middle East and Africa, Europe and other countries around the world.”
“We are proud to be Qatar’s most trusted platform for online shopping and the best delivery service,” al-Attiyah continued. “Your order is safe with our delivery heroes. Our items are exclusively delivered by cars to guarantee the freshness of your order.”
“We built the Baladi Express platform with a huge IT team, very experienced and very skilled people from around the world,” he added. “It’s a huge team comprising consultants, experts in global databases, system analysts, system architects and others."
“We have also built hardware infrastructure. We have built the cloud. It’s a private cloud with a huge data centre, locally hosted here in Qatar,” the official said. “We have very strong tools to secure our data and our application. The platform is built upon the latest technology with the most recent programming language."
Al Baladi Holding Group chief executive Hany al-Sayyadi said: “You place your order, and we will deliver within a maximum of 60 minutes, most of the time within 30 minutes.”
“Not only that, we also promise to preserve the quality of your items with our 'best delivery service' system across Qatar,” he continued. “Whether you place your order from Doha, Al Khor, Al Wakra, Al Shamal or even if you are camping with friends in the middle of the desert, we will deliver to you within our promised time.”
Al-Sayyadi stressed that the company is not only targeting the local market; it also aims to reach out to the international market.
“We have built a strong infrastructure for Baladi Express using the latest technology and tools,” he stated. “To optimise our services, we stand independent in terms of supply chain management and fleets.”
"Business-wise, we aim to deliver everything to everywhere in Qatar with free-of-charge fast deliveries 24x7, high-quality products at low prices,” he said. “These are the key features and the key added values that we will add in addition to the varieties of the items and products.“
“Our application contains over 150,000 items categorised and classified in the application in a very proper way,” the official explained. “It’s an easy, user-friendly application with different payment methods. Loyalty programmes and rewards points are included in the application.”
Regarding after-sales service, al-Sayyadi said that they have the "biggest call centre" for this application.
“One has to dial 8006000 and a big team at the call centre will be available to answer and solve customers’ problems at the same time,” he explained. “There is also compensation for any defects or any problem faced by a customer.”
"We are committed to providing full satisfaction to our customers and changing the mind of people about online shopping and e-commerce,” al-Sayyadi added.
All items marked on the application are readily available for delivery from the six warehouses exclusively for e-commerce and over 50 Express Stores spread across the country.
Al-Sayyadi said that the company has launched the biggest Express Store with a space of 15,000sq m at Barwa Commercial Avenue.
"We also have five more warehouses in different locations in the country. Our application is programmed in a very smart way to identify the location of the customer,” he said. “The moment an order is placed, it will reach the nearest warehouse and the delivery will be done in the shortest possible time.”
Baladi Express general manager Dr Mohamed Ali Othman noted: “We have invested huge money in the technology to build this platform. More than 30 experts and consultants from different parts of the world are working on it.”
“We have made huge investments in hardware, security tools, firewall switches, and high-speed lines from Ooredoo and Vodafone,” he said. “We have also invested in having a satellite line, just to ensure that all options are available and the operations never stop.”
Othman said that Baladi Express has a dedicated team of experts and consultants in the field of information systems and technology, and they are involved in building this robust and powerful platform.
He added that it is built on an infrastructure that adheres to the latest global systems and standards.
Othman said that the company has built the "largest private cloud environment" and a secured data centre by using state-of-the-art technologies.
“The platform relies on a massive database and utilises the latest systems for managing operations, inventory, financial management, map management and geographic information systems,” he elaborated. “The company has invested in having a fleet of 2,000 cars and 1,000 bikes for delivery.”
“There are more than 5,000 drivers to deliver orders on time,” he continued. “We have already invested a lot in the training and obtaining driving licences for these thousands of drivers.”
Regarding brand ambassadors Nasser al-Attiyah and Ronaldinho, Othman said: “With such huge stars as our brand ambassadors, I am sure it will have a big impact on our popularity that will ultimately result in cementing the position of our brand in the market.”