The recent coronavirus outbreak has crossed borders of China at an alarming rate and that just might be the reasons why your order still hasn’t turned up.
The UAE shoppers are finding it extremely difficult and are having their orders delayed, especially the merchandise ordered from China due to the threat of coronavirus.
Altaf Patel, Procurement Manager at Dubai Bazaar, which operates an e-tailing portal and which sources more than 60 per cent of its merchandise from China said:
Timelines for deliveries have definitely lengthened and for a variety of product categories – from clothing to toys to electronics. At the lower end of these categories, there are already shortages because most factories in China have not resumed taking orders.
Likes of Dubai Bazaar is not the only portal which has experienced difficulty during this time. Other portals such as noon.com have also been struggled heavily, as majority chunk of the products are imported from China.
Individuals who purchased goods directly from AliExpress have also found it difficult to have their purchases delivered on time and it is expected that this will only get worse because of the newly introduced strict checks on import items from China.
Sources have confirmed if the shipping continues to be delayed for additional two-weeks then the problems can be in high-volume categories such as electronics and mobile phones.
Speaking about the matter, a Dubai-based electronic retailer said:
Outside of Apple and Samsung, the Chinese dominate the smartphone space – any delay in new shipments will play havoc with our first-quarter sales. We have no clarity from the majors whether they can ensure consistent supplies. This is the problem when the whole world puts its manufacturing into one place – China.
Patel also added that the goods present in the UAE have seen their prices hike significantly and the matter will only become worse as time passes on and if the epidemic isn’t taken care of.
The customers are advised to not only keep a check on the prices but also the origin of the merchandise to avoid any unnecessary delays and so forth.
To assess the amount of disturbance cornovirus has caused, Clubfactory, AliExpress and Jollychic are leading cross-border trade (CBT) earlier dominated by an Amazon, Asos or Shop & Ship.
