Case Study: Nagwa

Nagwa is one of Kuwait’s favorite gifting stores, especially for people traveling abroad. It is exceptional at blending traditional Kuwaiti desserts with modern packaging.

And, to expand its international reach, Nagwa established two stores at Kuwait International Airport, making it easier for travelers to buy a quick gift before boarding a plane.

As it was growing, Nagwa wanted to establish new sales channels. So, it explored the online world. It started its online journey with intermediary platforms, also known as online marketplaces, but soon noticed some glaring issues. 

Consequently, Nagwa analyzed other online options, leading it to direct online ordering and Zyda.

After partnering with Zyda, Nagwa started offering its customers an enjoyable online experience, one where both the site structure and the ordering process were optimized. Better yet, its Zyda site was reliable enough to receive hundreds of orders during peak season.

Problem

Originally known as Hail wa Zafaran, Nagwa is a fantastic gifting store. Its products are delicious. Its packaging is unique and modern, showing the amount of work and care that goes into these products’ designs.

When Nagwa started its online journey, it partnered with online marketplaces, such as Talabat and Deliveroo. In the beginning, this partnership was fruitful, providing Nagwa with evidence that people were excited to order online from it. 

Yet, Nagwa felt that these marketplaces were limiting in some respects: 

1. 1. For starters, the marketplaces are catered towards fast food restaurants, so they don't fit Nagwa's gifting personality.
2. 2. Additionally, these online marketplaces may limit the zones to which Nagwa had access. So, customers who lived in certain zones would never even see Nagwa or know that it was available online. As a result, Nagwa saw this as lost sales.
3. 3. Another problem was that online marketplaces always had a limited number of couriers cruising the Kuwaiti streets at any given moment.

4. Why was a limited number of couriers such a problem for Nagwa?

Nagwa is a seasonal business, and sometimes the number of orders skyrocket. For instance, in Ramadan, Nagwa may receive hundreds of orders per day.

Too many orders in a single day can overload the fleet of any marketplace. And, this extra pressure results in some orders getting delayed or even never getting delivered.

As a result, several end-customers might have a bad experience due to the marketplace's limited fleet yet blame Nagwa for the delayed products.

Nagwa wasn't happy. It wanted to focus on customer satisfaction and retention, not to mention customer delight.  

The gifting store started considering alternative options for online delivery. 

At the time, most customers preferred to get their food through a marketplace, a phone call, Whatsapp, or Instagram. They didn’t order directly from a restaurant’s website.

So, the million-dollar question was whether Nagwa should invest in their own direct online ordering channel. Or, was it too early to go direct?

The solution

Eventually, Nagwa took the leap and got its own platform. It partnered with Zyda.

Nagwa chose Zyda for a few reasons:

1. 1. Nagwa wanted to offer its customers a smooth and straightforward customer experience. And, it saw that, with Zyda, it could cut all the fluff and give its customers a simple site where they could place an order and get what they wanted in the fewest number of clicks possible. 
   2. Nagwa wanted complete control and autonomy over its online presence. Zyda provided this.
   3. Nagwa knew how many couriers it had and its operational capacity. So, it was able to control the inflow of orders accordingly. 
   4. Nagwa needed a platform whose experience resembled that of marketplaces, hence minimizing the disruption to customer behavior. It found this in Zyda.

Once it had its Zyda site, Nagwa tried to reduce the number of orders coming in through the online marketplaces, especially if it felt that there might be a shortage of drivers. 

“The Kuwaiti market needs a sleek and direct online ordering channel. You click the link, and the menu appears immediately.” Jarrah Al Othman, head of digital marketing at LFC Kuwait.

To check out Nagwa's Zyda site, click the image below:

Impact 

In the beginning, things were slow to pick up. 

However, it didn’t take long for Nagwa’s customer base to get accustomed to the new platform, after which sales on their Zyda site surged.

Today, Zyda is an integral part of Nagwa’s business. The platform’s reliability has helped Nagwa manage the incoming orders, especially during peak times when Nagwa might receive over 500 orders in a single day. 

Add to this, direct online ordering in Kuwait has become commonplace, making the argument for maintaining its online ordering platform more pertinent.  

Over and above, Nagwa appreciates Zyda's willingness to adapt to vendors' suggestions. For example, Nagwa once recommended adding a greeting card option as well as an SMS feature, and both of these options have been implemented on Zyda's platform.

“Zyda has a far-reaching and positive impact on our business. It is hard to make do without it because our customer base has grown accustomed to it.” Jarrah Al Othman.