Omedia kuwait

CEO at Boutiqaat Beauty & Accessories Products .

Abdulwahab is a young Kuwaiti with many achievements, most notably the establishment of Boutiqaat.com the largest tech company in Kuwait’s history and one of the largest Social Commerce concepts in the world. He founded OMEDIA Company, the first social media influencer marketing agency in the Middle East. He’s an active member of the Kuwaiti Journalists Association, a member of the New-Kuwait Group which is part of the Supreme Committee for the Marketing of Government Projects and an active Political TV programs presenter since 2007.

Boutiqaat, a Kuwaiti beauty ecommerce startup raised $45 million (13.5 million KWD) earlier this year from Boubyan Petrochemical Company, a Kuwaiti company with investments in different sectors including petrochemicals, manufacturing, healthcare and education. The investment was announced by Boubyan in January but went unnoticed by English publications including ours.

It is the largest investment ever received by a Kuwaiti startup and came at a valuation between $250 million to $300 million.

Founded in 2015 by a young Kuwait entrepreneur Abdulwahab Alessa, Boutiqaat is an ecommerce platform that sells over 25,000 beauty and fashion products through its website and mobile apps from more than 700 international brands. But that’s not what makes it special. Boutiqaat’s USP is the virtual boutiques (stores) of social media influencers where they add their favorite products, allowing their fans and other customers to easily browse through these curated selections of products and buy whatever they like. Boutiqaat takes care of the entire transaction.

The purchase decisions of Middle Eastern consumers are heavily influenced by the social media celebrities these days. According to some estimates , over 70% of UAE residents take advice from social media influencers before buying products. The numbers won’t be any different for other GCC countries and even other parts of the Middle East. But there are hardly any social media platforms that allow their users or influencers to sell online. That’s where Boutiqaat comes into play. It’s not a social media platform but seems to have done a great job of mixing social with ecommerce.

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Boutiqaat’s founder Abdulwahab Alessa, who himself is an ‘influencer’ with close to a million followers on Twitter (that’s probably because he was previously a TV anchor) first thought of this idea when he worked with social media infleuncers to advertise for his restaurant, he had explained in an interview earlier this year.

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Abdulwahab Alessa

“In 2011, I created Omedia, a marketing agency for social media influencers, and my work there was going well. I then decided to open up a few restaurants, some of which weren’t successful. Running Omedia, I naturally made social media influencers advertise for restaurants, but in many cases these ads weren’t bringing in customers. When I looked at the comments section for the restaurant ads, which were posted on Instagram, I noticed people commenting on the influencers’ sunglasses and other things that they were wearing, rather than the restaurant itself. Many times, these items are not readily available in stores in Kuwait or are out of stock. I then started to think about bringing these demanded items to people. This is how Boutiqaat began,” said the Boutiqaat founder.

The startup according to Alanba has its own fleet of vehicles to deliver products. They source and buy products directly from brands or the wholesale agents and store them in their own warehouses, Alanba’s story notes.

They currently sell and deliver products all over GCC including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman.

Boutiqaat’s founder earlier this year had said that they will use the investment to expand beyond Middle East, “Our strategic partners like Boubyan Petrochemical and others will assist in our expansion to open up in Asia, Europe, and the United States.”

Middle East's Favourite Online Beauty Destination for Cosmetics, Skin care & Perfumes

Boutiqaat is a virtual makeup showroom featuring a hand-curated mix of beauty and fashion products from 700+ international brands, local and exclusive in-house brands, where customers can discover personal recommendations from Middle East’s most loved celebrities and shop their selections on-the-go. It is the go-to place for fashionistas and make-up addicts looking for the perfect fix for all their cosmetics & fashion obsessions!

Envisaged in 2015 by a young Kuwaiti entrepreneur, Boutiqaat distinguishes from its peer e-commerce platforms with the incorporation of a social element: it features Gulf and Arab celebrities and social media influencers who recommend products, allowing consumers to shop directly from these influencers’ virtual stores inside Boutiqaat.

What started as an e-commerce cosmetics and goods distributer in Kuwait, today, has grown tremendously to not only become the premium destination for the world’s trendiest selection of makeup and beauty products in Middle East, but a popular beauty hub that delivers unrivaled experiences to makeup and fashion lovers. The portal allows you to seamlessly connect with your favorite celebrities, makeup gurus and influencers providing unlimited access to the industry’s latest trends and chic styles, beauty & fashion secrets, expert tips, personal recommendations and much more!

Why we love Boutiqaat?

· The online Beauty and Cosmetic store features a wide variety of 25,000+ products from 700+ top international brands including ANASTASIA, LIME CRIME, BENEFIT, MAKE UP FOR EVER, SHISEIDO, THE BALM, GIGI HADID and more.

· 200+ exclusive partnerships with the region’s most powerful celebrities and influencers.

· You can catch up on your favorite celebrities, view their YouTube Makeup tutorials, follow their Instagram Beauty trends and shop their picks & recommendations in their boutiques.

· View 1000+ Makeup tutorials, trending Make-up looks, Beauty tips and Product reviews by celebrities on Boutiqaat TV.

· Share your favorite products & celebrity with your social media circle on Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Facebook or Twitter.

· Choose from the widest spread of products ranging from Bath & Body, Hair care, Skincare, Eyewear, Arabic Fashion, Arabian Perfumes, Oriental perfumes, Bakhour, Sunglasses, Arabic Fragrances and more.

· Guaranteed 100% genuine products, 14-day hassle-free returns or exchanges, secure payments, cash on delivery and delivery across GCC including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.

· Boutiqaat has a dynamic and passionate team that understands and caters to all your Beauty and Fashion obsessions ensures that you look and feel gorgeous always!

More information From an interview on Youtube:

In “ RICHARD TALK” Kuwaiti program. He said these things:

· Don’t look at your ambition through by materialistic view.

· His story started from 16-year-old , he likes media and politics. He wanted to be as a political programs representative on “2006”. He likes influencing on others and taking decision. Media is part of his life. Media became more imple and his passion is about politics and media.

· Then, He moved from the media to the business.

· First project was “ Home berry icecream” by delivering ice-cream to the homes through busses. He got loan about 10.000 Kuwaiti Dinar. Then his profits became about 20.000 KD daily.

· Then, he created Omedia which is the basic project, he wanted to be number one in an project. He became one of the first social media commerce internationally. Then contributed in some projects like restaurants but he did not succeeded because he did find his passion on this.

· Then, came back to Omedia he wanted to make business, he is looking for an idea not for investment. .

· He mentioned the most challenges is with yourself and try to find your weakness and strengths and this is by practice.

· After that, he started the business of Boutiqat.

· Omedia creates Boutiquat as an idea, infance.

· Following the influencer to get class form to contribute the influencer the products.

· Using the celebrities to promote the the products., so what the celebrity use is available at Boutiqat

· He met one of his friend and present the idea . he as a person can think and suggest ideas which is his strength but he is not implementer which is one of his weaknesses.

· The capital of this company is 1500000 KD .

· The success in his perspective is to change the industry. So he changed the idea of the advertisement in Kuwait.

· Now he is famous in the Arabian Gulf country and his goal to be famous internationally.

· Now Boutiquat is the most expensive electronic or digital project in Kuwait.

He said at the end” think about something no body have been thought about before and be the first”

References;

https://www.arabnet.me/english/speakers/abdulwahab-alessa (Accessed 12 April, 2019)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQIwAkS3Llg&feature=youtu.be (Accessed 13 April, 2019)

https://www.boutiqaat.com/en-kw/about-us/ (Accessed 13 April, 2019))

http://www.omediakw.com/ (Accessed 13 April, 2019))