CAIRO: E-commerce and supply chain operations platform Omniful aims to significantly increase its presence in the Saudi market following a successful $5.85 million seed funding round.
In an interview with Arab News, Mostafa Abornasr, CEO and co-founder of Omniful, discussed the company's strategy to revitalize Saudi Arabia's e-commerce sector.
“Following our recent seed funding round, we plan to expand our business, expand our presence in Saudi Arabia and international markets, and continue to aggressively invest in technology development,” Abornasr said.
“This includes enhancing the capabilities of our platform, entering into new strategic partnerships, and further customizing our solutions to meet the specific needs of diverse markets.” added.
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Mostafa Abornasr aims for his company to become a globally recognized technology vendor from the region, addressing local and global market challenges while contributing to the ecosystem.
Abolnasr elaborated on the company's strategic positioning in the Saudi e-commerce market, to be a leading enabler in the space “with capabilities tailored to local business practices, regulatory requirements and consumer preferences.” He emphasized that he is focusing on this.
“For example, we are the first order management system to combine sales channels such as Salla, Zid, Jahez, PIK, Amazon, Noon, and ToYou, all selling from the same inventory in-store.”
On the topic of strategic partnerships, Abornasr shared that Omniful is actively engaged with both private and public institutions in Saudi Arabia, although specific collaborations remain confidential.
These partnerships are aimed at aligning Omniful's operations with the national e-commerce strategy, strengthening the overall ecosystem and supporting the company's expansion plans.
To address market challenges and evolving customer expectations, Abornasr said Omniful prioritizes innovation based on first-principles analysis and long-term solutions that address fundamental pain points in the supply chain and e-commerce space. He said he is focused on solutions.
Regarding international expansion, Abornasr revealed that Omniful is already serving customers in various regions such as the United States, Europe, Africa, Turkiye, and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
“These have primarily been through referrals, partnerships, conferences and inbound. To date, our international expansion continues as we plan to launch in strategic markets across the Middle East and North Africa region. “We have not yet activated our marketing and outreach efforts towards, and internationally as well,” he said.
“An attractive market for us is one where e-commerce penetration is rapidly increasing, combined with many supply chain and operational challenges, resulting in a sophisticated series like ours. This creates a need for solutions,” the CEO added.
Mr. Abolnasr’s vision for Omniful aligns with the expected growth of e-commerce both in Saudi Arabia and globally.
He aims for his company to become a globally recognized technology vendor from the region, addressing local and global market challenges while contributing to the ecosystem.
To remain competitive, Omniful relies on proprietary technology and strong engineering capabilities, and draws talent from leading companies to build Software-as-a-Service products.
“We will build on this further by investing in research and development, fostering a culture of innovation, and constantly responding to customer needs and industry trends to ensure technology remains our competitive edge. I intend to do so,” Abornasr said.
“We also enhance our platform with AI, machine learning, and other emerging technologies to deliver unparalleled efficiency and value to our clients across a variety of use cases, including inventory optimization, allocation, and demand forecasting.” he added.
Founded in 2022 by Abolnasr and Alankrit Nishad, Omniful provides merchants and fulfillment providers with integrated management, warehouse management, and transportation management systems to grow their businesses.
Abolnasr discussed the company's role in transforming the omnichannel and e-commerce supply chain and operations landscape, highlighting Omniful's cloud-native end-to-end platform that integrates order, warehouse, and transportation management system capabilities. .
“Omniful is a critical and common cause of problems such as inventory mismanagement, order processing inefficiencies, lack of real-time data integration across sales channels, and the complexity of managing multiple fulfillment hubs such as stores, warehouses, and delivery partners. ,” Abornasr said in Arabic. news.
“By providing an integrated platform, we directly address these challenges, reduce fulfillment delays, minimize operational costs, increase real-time visibility, and improve overall customer satisfaction. ” he added.
Omniful's strategy begins with real-time inventory management across multiple sales channels, effectively coordinating different stores and warehouses.
The platform is designed to seamlessly integrate with existing enterprise resource planning and POS systems, ensuring updates are timely and accurate.
Abornasr also highlighted the capabilities of the company's order management system, which automates the routing, allocation and tracking of orders.
He also pointed to the agility of the warehouse management system, which is tailored to optimize high-volume throughput, and shipping and fulfillment automation rules that facilitate smooth carrier selection and tracking.
According to Abolnasr, these capabilities are key to ensuring timely and complete order delivery, maintaining accurate inventory levels, and significantly improving the shopping experience for both businesses and consumers.
The founders' common frustration with the lack of a scalable and efficient modular platform on the market led to the creation of Omniful.
Their objective is to develop the world's best supply chain platform and provide adaptable solutions that meet the specific needs of companies navigating the dynamic realm of supply chain, e-commerce, and omnichannel operations. He explained that it is something to do.
Abolnasr highlighted key trends impacting the future of e-commerce logistics and fulfillment, highlighting the shift to omnichannel retail and growing consumer demand for fast, same-day delivery.
He highlighted the critical role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in driving predictive analytics and optimization, along with the need for companies to diversify sales channels and strengthen merchandising and demand generation efforts.
“These technologies enable inventory optimization, efficient picking routes, predictive analytics, demand forecasting, intelligent routing, delivery courier selection, and warehouse space utilization to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and “It improves the customer experience,” he said.
Mr. Abolnasr detailed Omniful's strategic growth and alignment with broader digital transformation and economic diversification efforts within Saudi Arabia.
“We remain focused on our supply chain and e-commerce operations, and we have great confidence in the potential of the e-commerce sector, building a technologically advanced and economically vibrant e-commerce ecosystem,” he said. “It underscores our commitment to supporting the region's vision of a system.” .
