Baker Atili – Palestine Economy Portal

Translated by Tamara Barakat

According to the reports of the Palestine Post, the number of parcels it has been received has increased, indicating a growth in e-commerce and e-marketing in Palestine.

Entrepreneurial Initiatives

The development in technology and its applications allowed the Palestinian youth to create tens of e-commerce and e-marketing websites and hundreds of marketing pages on social media platforms.

The founder of the “Matlob min Filastin” website, Rami Abu Dheir, said that the idea behind his initiative was to allow people to communicate with merchants and send them their demands for products for free, according to certain conditions and standards, so that the merchants can meet their demand.

A Science and an Art

Hassan Qamhieh, one of the first founders of an e-marketing initiative in Nablus, said, “E-marketing is a science and an art, especially in terms of promoting the products. Its success relies on the use of the right photos and texts, choosing the right time for publishing the announcements and posts in order for them to receive the highest possible amount of views and interactions, and using a variety of multimedia.”

He believes that half of those who work in the fields of e-commerce and e-marketing do not employ these methods as well as they should. However, they have great opportunities since this field does not require a large amount of capital.

Moreover, he thinks that the most important factors needed for success are “credibility, keeping up with the latest technological developments related to e-marketing websites, and patience and persistence since in the beginning, the initiative might not have great returns and the market activity might be weak.”

An Escape from Unemployment

Although Qamhieh works in the field of e-marketing and e-commerce to gain more income, he said that some of his friends who work in this field either do so as a personal initiative, or they enter into agreements with companies abroad to run their social media pages and promote their products in return for a monthly salary.

Dr. Abdel Majid Mansour, a professor at the Faculty of Economy at Al-Najah University, believes that many youth were able to enter into this field and succeed in developing their own websites to communicate with suppliers and customers, and they were able to gain a great amount of income.

Even though most of the e-commerce initiatives in Palestine are private initiates that specialize in consumer goods, the number of people who use e-commerce and e-marketing websites is growing remarkably, and it will continue to grow if third generation (3G) mobile networks become available.

E-commerce and e-marketing succeeded in creating job opportunities for youth in Jordan, and the same thing applies in Palestine, Mansour added. He called on the specialized parties and the Government to empower and organize these e-commerce initiatives, and not to impose taxes on them to allow them to develop and grow.

Fear from Taxes

Those who work in the e-commerce and e-marketing field are afraid the Palestine Post might not be able to keep up with the development of this field. They are also afraid that taxes would be imposed on their businesses.

Fathi Abu Shabak, the acting general manager of the Palestine Post, told the Palestine Economy Portal that the Palestine Post has previously dealt with e-commerce and that the Post recently participated in a conference and agreed to transfer the parcels received through e-commerce. In the past, e-commerce was limited and could only be done through special cards that allowed the consumer to purchase goods online. However, it has now become more widespread and can be done through bank credit cards.

Abu Shabak added, “We are cooperating with the Government in order to protect the Palestinian market and the Palestinian consumers and businesspeople. We provide the Treasury with the costs that we collect in exchange for distributing the parcels. These costs reached 90 thousand dollars in February 2016.”

He also said, “No customs are imposed on the parcels, but we take a tariff that is approved by the Palestinian Cabinet, in return for re-packaging the parcels after they are inspected by the Customs.”

He explained that the Palestine Post receives the parcels and withholds them for a maximum period of three days to be inspected by the Customs to ensure their safety, after which they are distributed to the citizens.