Regional shopping site Noon partners with eBay

Saudi-backed online shopping site Noon has announced a partnership with US auction platform eBay to offer customers access to products in other markets.

The agreement will see noon fulfil eBay orders made on its platform from the US and other countries and deliver them directly to customers.

“With this, we are offering our customers access to products that are not otherwise readily available in the region,” said Noon founder Mohamed Alabbar.

“Our partnership with eBay opens a whole new world of shopping experience.”

Noon said it would make the service available to customers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia in the second half of the year.

Any products ordered from eBay will be available for returns, based on terms and conditions.

The two companies will also explore joint opportunities in marketing and best practices.

Noon was founded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment fund and a consortium of Gulf investors including Alabbar with an initial capital of $1bn in 2016.

After a rough start that saw the company miss its promised early 2017 launch date and undergo several management changes, the platform came online in the UAE in September and Saudi Arabia in December.

Read: $1bn shopping site Noon.com goes live in Saudi

It competes for sales in the region with established player Souq.com, which was acquired by Amazon for an estimated $650m last year.

Read: Dubai’s Souq.com makes Amazon global products available to customers

The Middle East e-commerce market is expected to double between 2017 and 2020 to reach $20bn, according to the ‘Middle East B2C E-Commerce Market 2018′ report.