THE CHALLENGE

Challenges to meet the needs of users & the market

In UAE’s food market, the e-commerce space saw stunted growth. Manufacturers and distributors had to face increased challenges in developing online channels. Retailers, grocers, and supermarkets were also in need of new methods to engage with their suppliers. They were accustomed to dealing in cash transactions and thus faced multiple challenges in scaling their small-scale businesses, as well as dealing with a decreased footfall owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to this, banks and MFIs were seeking more efficient means to engage with lending activities in these segments.

Simultaneously, the pharmaceutical space was facing similar challenges and roadblocks. In the UAE, a majority % of pharmacy and medical providers’ revenue is based on insurance claims. Naturally, there was an increasing demand for a program to finance pharmacies backed by receivables from insurance companies.

These two major challenges established a need for two separate digital e-commerce solutions that would help players from all sides (i.e. consumers, retailers, and suppliers) meet their needs as well as accelerate business growth.

THE SOLUTION

MiniMart: Making grocery accessible for consumers

MIZA decided to embark on a journey to digitize the grocery space (e mart) and wanted an experienced technology services partner to take on the challenge. After vetting top providers, MIZA chose VentureDive as its trusted partner, with the goal to create an on-demand online grocery to benefit the locals.

After product discovery and a thorough understanding of MIZA’s long-term business goals, VentureDive designed the delivery management solution geared towards addressing the logistics-heavy processes of the grocery industry. The engineering team at VentureDive designed and developed mobile and web platforms for customers, business owners, merchants, vendors, and delivery agents, so they can meaningfully interact. Merchants access mobile or web portals to engage with suppliers and manage procurement digitally. While customers can access thousands of products from different retailers and manufacturers via both mobile apps and the website, they also enjoy a complete e-commerce experience with offers, promos, and discounts.

Another component to this solution was access to a dashboard for business owners to have an overview of their different operations and units through custom reporting and data. Moreover, it helps the Admin & Ops team to manage inventory, orders, payments, and system configurations for online grocery stores.

E-Pharma: Connecting suppliers with pharmacies

To cater to the challenges faced by the pharmacy industry in the UAE, ePharma was launched. VentureDive developed an online digital platform to connect medical vendors and pharmacies and provide access to insurance, e-wallets, and loyalty program for pharmacies. 

The engineering team at VentureDive developed feature-packed mobile apps and websites for buyers, suppliers, and delivery agents. Our digital solution helped pharmacies source and stock up on drugs and medical supplies and easily manage inventories, payments, and business statistics through a single platform. 

We enabled Vendors (suppliers) to market and sell their products easily, get paid directly on order completion, and benefit from a simplified sales cycle. Vendors sign up on the Supplier website, upload inventory, set up prices, discounts, and begin selling to pharmacies across the country. 

The result was greater support for suppliers with a wide last-mile delivery ecosystem so they could effortlessly reach their target market. Using a transparent and effective set of delivery management tools that support procurement and supply chain and provide insightful analytics, ePharma enables suppliers to identify market strengths and make sustainable changes by offloading the obstacles of logistics and finance. It also empowers pharmacies to place orders with one touch, and get amazing offers and deals.

Creating intuitive user journeys to boost customer engagement

MIZA’s goal didn’t just revolve around digitizing the pharmacy and grocery businesses, but they also wanted to make the end user’s journey simple and immersive. Since the UAE market was quite new at using technology to fulfill their needs for everyday essentials, the idea was to significantly improve customer engagement through the apps. To this end, the VentureDive team created features like easy order tracking, reordering, order scheduling and subscription, and multiple payment methods including payment in installments. This offered customers increased visibility & operational transparency. 

The admin web portal dashboard allows admins to view a comprehensive summary/report of all the inventories, orders placed, delivery statuses, payments and billing, reviews and ratings, promos and discounts, and more. We also simplified the user journeys to make it easy and intuitive for different users of MIZA’s e-Pharma and Minimart solutions to navigate through the mobile and web platforms. 

THE RESULTS

The ROI of digitization

Expanding presence from brick and mortar to digital demands minimal hassle when it comes to managing, maintaining, and upgrading existing systems. Using a fully automated approach, MIZA enabled physical businesses like pharmacies and grocery chains/stores to go digital without compromising on operational efficiency and transparency.

Minimart enables local consumers to have groceries and daily essentials delivered to their doorstep, addressing the restrictions of lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This helps them improve customer experience by eliminating the hassle of going to the store physically and purchasing items in person. The intuitive mobile and web apps allow customers to choose from thousands of products and special packages listed on the app at market price. They can schedule delivery, place ad-hoc orders, and subscribe to orders for multiple days as well. Features like order tracking, promos, and the ability to do charity online are also available on e-mart. 

E-Pharma now supports pharmacies to make more informed procurement decisions with advanced analytics. It’s super easy and simple for pharmacies to source medical supplies and keep complete records of orders, inventories, suppliers, delivery agents, and business revenue. Using technology powered by VentureDive, MIZA has onboarded over 200 pharmacies via the E-Pharma solution, and generated over AED 100 million in sales revenue within their first year of launch. 

VentureDive continues to provide technical support to maintain and monitor the applications.