Dubai’s Cobone.com bought by US investment firm

Posted by: Telcoguy Monday, 11 March 2013 12:05 PM[UAE] - UAE

@Jess, "job assurance" is a dream in any company/sector

@Hisham this is not so much about "lean startup" but 'hype", plenty of it. That and poor execution

Groupon was probably the worst offender in terms of sustainability (or lack of), funny how much heat you could get for pointing this not so long ago

Plenty of startups in the coupon/e-retail space and a few more will come (I know people involved, we may even get involved ourselves) but so far nobody is coming with both a good, sustainable, business model, and proper execution. Margins are tight, value is hard to prove, and putting all the pieces together is much harder than people think, specially if you need to get payment on board

Posted by: Jess Thursday, 14 March 2013 9:54 AM[UAE] - United Arab Emirates

@Telcoguy: Yes, now we are on the same page.
I too get my stuff online (in GCC btw).
If they are not available, the unit is sourced out and delivered to me which i feel is great and convenient.

Posted by: Telcoguy Wednesday, 13 March 2013 2:36 PM[UAE] - UAE

@Jess, you mean online sales companies like Amazon f? They have put a few brick and mortar bookstores out of play methinks. Oh and my electronics is all bought online btw (but not from GCC companies)

There is no "job assurance" in any sector, not even in the GCC. People have lost jobs here (banking anyone), people get replaced by cheaper alternatives, in some sectors slower than in other regions, in others equally fast even if industry is doing well

But I think what you are talking is different. You are talking about survival of new ventures, well yes. New companies have a high child-death rate, not just online retailers. It simply happens that when an online venture shuts down it is more visible that the new pet store down in the building closing.

Half of the companies die in their first 4 years:
http://www.statisticbrain.com/startup-failure-by-industry/

Posted by: Jess Wednesday, 13 March 2013 8:21 AM[UAE] - United Arab Emirates

@Telcoguy - the breaking news simply doesn't apply to the middle east for the next 10 years. any changes takes time and really costly. Do you know that they had introduced PickupZone some years back at a huge expense and was literally closed down which would have replaced people by now.
I do agree that jobs can still be lost, but we are talking about online shopping companies and the claim that you make is in general.
Can you name at least a handful of online shopping companies who had survived for more than 3 or 5 years. Not to forget to mention tat the same time he number of them closed down also, so we know the ratio of existence/emerging and closed down.

Posted by: Telcoguy Monday, 11 March 2013 10:54 PM[UAE] - UAE

@Jess, I have some braking news for you. Jobs get shifted to places with lower costs, people get replaced by machines

Industry is "stable" even booming, companies may be increasingly profitable, jobs can still be lost either net losses, or in specific locations

I wonder where you have been living/working to not be aware of this

Posted by: Jess Monday, 11 March 2013 3:21 PM[UAE] - United Arab Emirates

@Telcoguy: if the industry is not stable, then it is a dream. Else wise, they are stable

Posted by: Ali Monday, 11 March 2013 8:47 AM[UAE] - Saudi Arabia

Cobone's customer service is dismal. They didn't do due diligence on their partners when they first set up, and even now I hear from friends who have had horror experiences. Why would anyone buy from a daily deals site like Cobone or GroupOn? Isn't it time traditional retailers did e-commerce properly and thought about giving consumers real customer service?

Posted by: Ahmad Sunday, 10 March 2013 5:23 PM[UAE] - UAE

Didn't Tiger already own part of Cobone? Tiger was a major investor in Samih Tukan's Maktoob.com which was sold off to Yahoo! (and resulted in the creation of the Jabbar Group). Tiger also partnered with the Jabbar Group in Joob - their canned travel portal. With Groupon and other coupon sites tanking in the US what is the merit in purchasing Cobone? Or, is this just a PR stint to kick some life into Cobone?