A Qatari startup that offers delivery and e-commerce services has partnered with home-based and micro businesses, providing them with a platform to reach more customers and showcase their products.
This partnership also aims to support owners of home-based businesses with their business plans and growth strategies, said Andrew Edward, the Product Marketing Lead of local company Snoonu.
The decision to tap into this segment of the market was driven by the commitment of Snoonu’s founder and chief executive, Hamad al-Hajri, to support the local economy and find untapped opportunities, Edward emphasised.
Edward explained that al-Hajri, along with his team at Snoonu, noticed a gap where many local businesses, despite being officially registered, lacked a platform to interact with customers and market their products effectively. Snoonu has this ability built-in within its platform thanks to its partnership with Braze. It enables them to segment and personalise interactions with customers which, in turn, can help local businesses do the same.
“One of the commitments of al-Hajri is to try to support the local economy and he has this talent of always working with the team in finding these untapped opportunities in the market and determining where it can be better and how he can improve it,” Edward said.
As a local startup, Edward noted that Snoonu understands the local context and sees this as an opportunity to support local businesses. “We are confident that our platform will help our audience and the Qatari population engage more with these businesses. Snoonu is aware of what our audience is looking for collaborating with home-based businesses is one way to help them engage with the Snoonu app more,” Edward said.
With its quick and large growth, Snoonu is constantly exploring innovative tools like Braze to refine its customer engagement strategies, ensuring the platform remains dynamic and responsive to users' needs.
Given the amount of growth experienced by these micro businesses since partnering with Snoonu, Edward stated that he has a positive outlook for home-based businesses in 2024.
“I would say my outlook is also positive. So far, home businesses that are in the Snoonu app have been seeing a good amount of growth, and in how they have been marketing their products to a much wider audience,” noted Edward, who lauded the support being provided by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to small and micro businesses.
“The ministry is showing more support in terms of how it wants to collaborate more to increase the growth of these home businesses and helping them understand the next steps they can take,” Edward said.
He also stressed that innovation was a key driver for success and that startups and entrepreneurs should always embrace new technologies and stay ahead of the competition. “This would help them meet their user’s needs at the right time and with the best communication, and also help them evolve in their market and future markets,” Edward added.
Snoonu Product Marketing Lead Andrew Edward.
