I Wonder, in qatar only few shops online.

still on Old Fashioned....

well.. if somebody wants to make it.. one can make. if somebody sit there and wait for a magic to happen then it will not happen.

experience dealing with Q-Tel. When I was getting my ADSL connected, the chap at customer service called and requested clarification regarding my address. I supplied Kahramaa numbers, other Q-Tel customer numbers hammered to my entrance, they still had trouble finding my address even though I could immediately bring up my street on Google Earth, even the mighty telecom company had trouble dispatching it's technician to my residence. Now, imagine how UPS, DHL, FedEx, Aramex would deal with this. Perhaps a little bit more professionally because their service depends on customer satisfaction while Q-Tel doesn't have to give a damn when internet is concerned at least, but regardless, delivery methods here leave a lot to be desired. Partly due to the way this city develops (both in speed and dubious logic), and partly due to the cutting of corners in quality staff that every operation seems to entertain.

In Dubai, there was a boom of online companies that offered some rather ridiculous services, like that Brit enterpreneur that wrapped gifts or something silly like that. Needless to say he was one of the first folks to escape when the proverbial sh*t hit the fan and the angry creditors started knocking on doors. I've never seen hot air and snake oil sell so well like the past few years in Dubai. When all is said and done, the failure of such services and companies should be a lesson to any aspiring venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

The P.O. Box system is still unreliable. It doesn't find the right location and address of the owner. It's always been used as a business address hence the said online goods gets to the office first before you personally. It only takes the Postal Service, DHL, UPS, FedEx, or any other shipping/freight/delivery services to have a continuous input of mail on a certain P.O. box to make them remember where to deliver it and on-time.

"Everything in this book may be wrong." Illusions: The Adventures of The Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach

there's no e-bay??? i'm purchasing items from there all the time.

It is all well and cool what you're thinking, but you're thinking like the usual "code monkey" (don't get offended I'm an IT guy too). You know, the website, any e-commerce website is merely a facade for an elaborate supply chain going on in the background. You mentioned Carrefour, well Carrefour is a very big company. It is in over 40 countries. In the GCC it is run by franchise agreements, therefore the franchisee would be the one to decide if he has the necessary staff to operate an online sales operation. Any kid with a knowledge of html can build a website. In fact, if use a simple CMS like wordpress, you don't even need to know html. Making a website and sticking it online is the easy part, the hard part is managing the content, and managing content is in the case of a hypermarket chain not just sticking item pictures and prices because these have to be somewhere in the stock room as well. These have to be shipped, delivered, there must be a whole dispatch chain of trucks driving around town delivering stuff. In the USA this is possible because they have a postal system which puts to shame any other in the world. I know, I've lived there, and I'm European. And even then, companies that deliver food through online order, like stouffers, do it on certain scheduled times of the day, not more than twice if i recall correctly, as there is no point in them delivering like fast-food joints on a per-order basis. They're not a restaurant, they are a food sales service.

Ebay is a massive operation. If you think Ebay is a CMS some guy made ten years ago and put online, you're terribly wrong. Ebay is constantly patching up security holes, looking around for dubious products being sold that could land them in trouble, optimizing their system. Things are seldom as simple as they seem, as MagicDragon pointed out, every idiot and his brother have a website in Qatar. The fact that 90% of them are stuffed to the brim with useless information is proof that no one really cares enough to hire even a person with elementary skills like an ICDL to sit there and update the thing through a CMS.

thats another benefit of maintaining business online.

for Supermarket example..

they know how much stock they have.. with each buy the count will get reduce.. every item expiry date will be visible.

they can have reports like which item is getting sold fast.. which item in demand. it's smart way to analyze customer behavior. and that's how google is working. based on the user search and experience it gives you auto suggest.

that i know as i'm a banker too and do send money ONLINE time to time

I mean maintenance as updating, or back to the supermarkets, keep the shelves full at all times and don't run out of products because you are too stupid to analyze the duration of a product on a shelf, because you are too lazy to analyze customers' behavior, and so on.

QL goes offline for maintenance once in a while but it don't get shut down for a day or two.

the problem is .. these guys are using a free content management tool and when the site traffic is high, some times its not able to cope up. that only my guess.. there could be other reasons like adding new functionality.. that kind of thnig take 2-3 hours most.

now, in a dynamic site.. if properly coded and developed then it will give you page where user can login and update the item, remove items, put on sell without the need of a maintenance guy.. (sorry i didn't understand the use of maintenance when you mentioned previously as in our field maintenance refers are web server maintenance but i now understand what you mean by maintenance)..

like if you use Ebay.. it's not any maintenance guy who put the picture of iteams and price. the web site take care of it itself. Here maintenance means, the site should be up and running.

Yes, firehartin, and now and then QL goes "offline" because it has to be maintained. Guess by whom?

magic...there are 2 types of sites. one is static, another dynamic. Static need to be chaged time to time as it can't update itself.

Dynamic update itself with new data.

As we are using qatar living and you can see we are keep updating this topic with every new write up.

If you check some websites in Qatar you will soon find many who carry data which are outdated. Why? Because nobody maintains the Website.

I don't agree with you, fireheartin. It is you, the owner of the website who has to update and maintain it. How should the Web Host know if and when you have new products or new prices? So, some freak designs your website, you buy the space on a host and then? Who updates your Website?

atif you can actually send money online, you need a bank account here and another one back home, thats all.. Dont stand in queues for that one.

" Dont take life too seriously, you will never get out alive!!!"

No Magic,

'Perpetual Mobile' never exist.. it's only a theory. and i agree that nothing runs itself.

I am a software engineer so let me explain how a web site works.

1) You need a software guy to build a web site for you.

2) you need to buy web space, domain name from a service provider and host your web site in the web space purchased.

now any problem occures, that the problem of the company who maintains the web server from where you purchased it. They are in such a high competitions that they promise 99.99% trouble free service. 30 days money back guarantee.

so you see, if you are a web site owner, you don't need to look for a seperate maintaince guy. you can always have your money back and the prices are so low for hosting a web site. it's like 4-5 dollar per month. if you buy for one year then price become even more low.

atif,

i am not sure if i understand what you are trying to say. When i started the topic, information sharing, ease of use and flexibility to everyone was in my mind.

do you mean to say that, once the Qatar will catup in online business then it will be only avaiable for Qatari nationals?

I though i am taking about being broad and open minded.

So, let's agree that nothing runs by itself. Anytime a problem occurs an expert is needed. The 'Perpetuum Mobile' doesn't exist. Anytime a problem in Qatar occurs, experts are not available. They rather buy a new item and throw the one that (theoretically) could be repaired if maintained well.

Magic i agree with you, there are problems here and even though i am not a resident of this country i know it's rather young country and with time they will learn thnigs. Right now the country is having money inflow so they don't care about it.

but when the business grow, compitition get tough then all these thnigs matter. Then attitude changes.

Again an Exaple: if you 10,000 riyal in your pocket and if you know that somebody is charing you 1 Riyal extra you won't mind paying it. if you have only 10 Riyal in your pocket then you will react to this unjustified charge.

Thats kinda human nature and you are far more experienced than me so i know you know it better than me.

Govt is very much keen to QATARIZ every sector. Inshallah, after this you will have alot of sites with nothing for EXPATS only for QATARIS and in ARABIC only too

.

DAMN GCC is way too far in TECHNOLOGY or introduction of such technology currently in Europe or NORTH AMERICA

.

Just imagine that even they are not enlisted in WESTERN UNION sites enabling to send money online without going to exchange companies and waiting in a long queue for remittance

fireheartin, do you know that Rolls Royce sells their jet engines below cost price? They make their profit with maintenance through experts who are constantly monitoring, repairing, and replacing parts of the engines. No airline can afford to do without these experts! - They keep the customer satisfied. And that is definitely unknown in Qatar!

ajnabi,

actually her view point is not wrong, what she meant to say is not to be a lazy bump and be active, explore the thnigs.

Suger Qtr had strong points of view

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"(A man is great by deeds, not by birth.)"

Yes Alma,

thats exactly my view point is.

There is no harm in having more options.

Yes Magic,

I do know about 'maintenance'. 'maintenance' doesnot need a whole bunch of team. Once the system is built then you need only 1-2 person to maintain the system, that also if your system is suspect to suppose to behave in highly unstable manner.

For example: you went to buy a car then you need only one mechanic once in a while for 'maintenance'. You don't suppose the entire assembely unit to be present every time your car need 'maintenance'.

Then there are seperate 'maintenance' services availabe world wide, those making a living out of 'maintenance' work.

http://yadiin.blogspot.com/

I am in favor of online supermarkets . I often feel that I waste my time in real supermarkets there with my kids and instead we should go out to a park or visit a friend !

.Also it is difficult to select the right products when kids are around you !

Then I would go there only when I feel like shopping in person .

You can also sell a Formula 1 car to a Qatari and then leave him alone with it. Do you think he will survive, fireheartin? I guess, we have a different view on 'maintenance'. Do you know that word in India?

John,

thats what i am trying to say. I don't say that go online and buy a CAR.

but one can go online, check the prices of different cars, compare thier features, check the deals, discounts a dealer is giving and then choose the right one with right price sutable to him/her.

Magic,

If you look for short term experts they will always gone.. stop gap filling never works.

And believe me.. it doesn't take a lot to build the site.

do you think all the US sites are build in US? They get build in India or China and hosted on US Server.

Once it's done, no more Indian or Chinese Experts needed. Then it's only few click and thnigs keep working for them.

Sandeep,

i just took the example of HyperMarket but it could be anything else.

I will give you a live example.

Recentely i was detected with Disbeties. I am new here and i checked Qatar Living for getting the address of hospital and clinics.

Then i tried the Home Recipe as i didn't want to live on pills so looked for Karela (bitter gourd). and it took me to search 3 Hyper Market to get it.. finally i got it in carryfore.

if the info would avaiable online then i could directly go there.

These "experts" also manage to run out of stocks frequently. Sometimes the product is available, sometimes not. Don't even try to tell me that these are experts!!

Magic.. When you are importing most of thnigs, including labor and professionals then they can get expertise too :)

This is not a huge system.. i am a software engineer.. i can build such system in 15 days.

but anyway fire, I do agree with you that online shopping should be done in doha due to the hot and humid climate here and it would be veryvery helpful if you can purchase anything and deliver to you without you yourself going to their shops.

John,

as i see, most of the people use interent and computers. and thats the power of the interent. Imagine if you have a shop and you have it online then the products you have, you can descrive it online in website. not necessery a shopping cart.

It will be easily accessable.

Well, i guess people here look for e-bay, qatar living for buying and selling but i beliving buying from a store gives more confidence than buying from an indivual. There is always a doubt in mind: why the person is selling the iteam?

It would finally allow "bachelors" to shop on "family days" without being refused entry. The problem, however, is the lack of expertise to maintain such systems. Trust me.

Fireheartin I dont know who said this but " Don't put hours into work, rather put work into hours" If you work productively enough, you get a lot of spare time. Specially for a bachelor here, nothing much to do once you return home from work. Groceries I get by making a phone call, food I get home delivered by making a phone call.. atleast for clothes and electronics I like going out and checking out different stores, I aint gonna b buying them everyday anyway so its good to make an effort once in a while to go out there and check out the stores..

" Dont take life too seriously, you will never get out alive!!!"

thanks sugar,

i am not againest the physical shopping and infact myself check out the things first before buying it. Its hard earned money and always want to spend it well.

Belive me, if i have to buy something major, first thing i do is to check the product reviews online from different users and then only i make up my mind.

But in Qatar its not possible, options are limited and even if they are available not sure where they are, apart from qatar living no other sites look alive in qatar.

fire, my point is people here are struggling to learn even english how much more in putting up a shopping site

sandeep, i don't remember who said this but i read it some where.. "i wasted time and now time is wasting me".

There are lots of things to do in a smart way so the productivity can be high and in the end it add the growth of the nation.

Being patriotic does not always means that you need to wear your country's flag but it also means how you can help the country grow.

When you put it that way, it makes more sense. Good luck.

~*Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret*~

Yes, you are right but then think about a bachlor with hectic work schedule. Not everyone get the freedom of time. Online shopping is giving more option and not a replacement of the physical shopping.

for example you want to buy a TV and you want the best price.. what you will do? first go to Lulu, then city center and then some place other to find the best price before buying it? your whole day is gone.

online you can find the best price, you can compare the price and then you can go for it directly.

Online shopping means being smart, not lazy. now the time you saved can spend on something useful, constructive.

Why are people getting so lazy by the day? Don't you want to go out, see things, try things on? Or when shopping in a supermarket, don't you like to choose and see the expiry date before purchasing? Take it as a fun activity to do and enjoy it. I think shopping online is a killer :(

~*Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret*~

Shopping is the one thing people can do here to pass their time, if that too is done online then hardly anything to do in Qatar, people will sit at home whole day and get bored.

" Dont take life too seriously, you will never get out alive!!!"

english should not be a problem as sites can be build on arebic languages also.

you know like in they have sites in german, french, chinese.

dude, people here are still trying to learn english, online shopping is still far from reality here