Startup of the Week – supply chain platform Omniful aims to boost Saudi Arabia’s e-commerce space
CAIRO: E-commerce and supply chain operations platform Omniful is aiming to significantly boost its presence in the Saudi market after a successful $5.85 million seed funding round.
In an interview with Arab News, CEO and co-founder of Omniful, Mostafa Abolnasr, shared the company’s strategies aimed to boost Saudi Arabia’s e-commerce space.
“Following our recent seed funding round, we plan to scale our operations, expanding our market presence in Saudi Arabia and internationally, and continuing to aggressively invest in technology development,” Abolnasr said.
“This includes enhancing our platform’s capabilities, entering new strategic partnerships, and further tailoring our solutions to meet the specific needs of diverse markets,” he added.
FASTFACT
Mostafa Abolnasr aspires for his company to become a globally recognized technology vendor originating from the region, addressing local and global market challenges while contributing to the ecosystem.
Abolnasr detailed the company’s strategic positioning within the Saudi e-commerce market, emphasizing its focus on being a key enabler for the sector “with features tailored to local business practices, regulatory requirements, and consumer preferences.”
He added: “For example, we are the first Order Management System to combine sales channels like Salla, Zid, Jahez, PIK, Amazon, Noon, ToYou and others – all selling from the same inventory on the store shelves.”
On the topic of strategic partnerships, Abolnasr shared that while specific collaborations remain confidential, Omniful actively engages with both private and public entities in Saudi Arabia.
These partnerships aim to align Omniful’s operations with the national e-commerce strategy, enhancing the overall ecosystem and supporting the company’s expansion plans.
Addressing market challenges and evolving customer expectations, Abolnasr stated that Omniful prioritizes innovation based on first-principle analysis, focusing on long-lasting solutions that address fundamental pain points within the supply chain and e-commerce sectors.
Regarding international expansion, Abolnasr revealed that Omniful already serves clients across various regions, including the US, Europe, Africa, Turkiye, and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
“These came mostly through referrals, partnerships, conferences and inbound – since until today, we have not yet activated our marketing and outreach efforts for international expansion, as we are planning a launch in strategic markets across the Middle East and North Africa region, and internationally,” he stated.
“An attractive market for us is one that is rapidly expanding e-commerce penetration, and combined with a lot of supply chain and operational challenges – a formula that breeds the need for a sophisticated suite of solutions like ours,” added the CEO.
Abolnasr’s vision for Omniful aligns with the anticipated growth of e-commerce both in Saudi Arabia and globally.
He aspires for his company to become a globally recognized technology vendor originating from the region, addressing local and global market challenges while contributing to the ecosystem.
To maintain its competitive edge, Omniful relies on its proprietary technology and strong engineering capabilities, drawing talent from leading companies to build Software-as-a-Service products.
“We plan to double-down on this and make sure that tech continues to be our competitive edge by investing in research and development, fostering a culture of innovation, and staying responsive to customer needs and industry trends,” Abolnasr said.
“We are also enhancing our platform with AI, machine learning, and other emerging technologies to deliver unparalleled efficiency and value to our clients in different use-case across inventory optimization, allocation, and demand forecasting,” he added.
Founded in 2022 by Abolnasr and Alankrit Nishad, Omniful provides merchants and fulfilment providers with a unified management system, warehouse management system, and transport management system to scale their businesses.
Abolnasr described the company’s role in transforming the omnichannel and e-commerce supply chain and operations landscape, highlighting Omniful’s cloud-native, end-to-end platform, which integrates order, warehouse, and transport management systems functionalities.
“Omniful targets critical and common pain points such as inventory mismanagement, inefficiencies in order processing, lack of real-time data integration across sales channels, and the complexities of managing multiple fulfillment hubs be it stores or warehouses and shipping partners,” Abolnasr told Arab News.
“By providing a unified platform, we address these challenges directly, reducing fulfillment delays, minimizing operational costs, increasing real-time visibility and improving overall customer satisfaction,” he added.
Omniful’s strategy starts with real-time inventory management that spans multiple sales channels, effectively coordinating across various stores and warehouses.
The platform is designed to integrate seamlessly with existing enterprise resource planning and point of sale systems, ensuring updates are timely and accurate.
Abolnasr further highlighted the functionality of the company’s order management system, which automates the routing, assignment, and tracking of orders.
He also pointed out the agility of its warehouse management system, tailored for high-volume throughput optimization, and shipping and fulfillment automation rules that facilitate smooth courier selection and tracking.
These capabilities, according to Abolnasr, are key to ensuring timely and complete order delivery, maintaining precise inventory levels, and significantly improving the shopping experience for both businesses and consumers.
The shared frustrations the founders had with the lack of scalable, efficient, and modular platforms in the market led them to create Omniful.
Abolnasr explained that their aim was to develop the world’s premier supply chain platform, offering adaptable solutions to meet the specific needs of businesses navigating the dynamic terrain of supply chain, e-commerce, and omnichannel operations.
Abolnasr shed light on the significant trends influencing the future of e-commerce logistics and fulfillment, emphasizing the shift towards omnichannel retail and the increasing consumer demand for fast, same-day delivery.
He highlighted the critical role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in driving predictive analytics and optimization, alongside the necessity for businesses to diversify sales channels and enhance their merchandising and demand generation efforts.
“These technologies enable inventory optimization, efficient picking routes, predictive analytics, demand forecasting, intelligent routing, shipping courier selection, and warehouse space utilization, leading to increased efficiency, reduced costs, and improved customer experiences,” he stated.
Abolnasr elaborated on Omniful’s strategic growth and its alignment with the broader digital transformation and economic diversification efforts within Saudi Arabia.
“Our focus remains on supply chain and e-commerce operations, which puts a lot of confidence in the e-commerce sector’s potential and underscores our commitment to supporting the region’s vision for a technologically advanced and economically vibrant e-commerce ecosystem,” he said.
