Online Shopping made easier in Egypt

As Egyptians continue to flock to shopping centers across the country, others across the world have been shopping from the comfort of their homes, without having to deal with crying children, incessantly loud music or security guards checking shopping bags.

Yet, online shopping website Edfa3ly.com (Arabic for ‘to pay’) hopes to drive a cultural change towards online shopping in Egypt.

“Our mission is to help shoppers and businesses alike to shop without borders,” explains Mohamed Attya, the founder and CEO of Edfa3ly which was launched as a start-up four years ago and today has more than 100,000 registered customers and has delivered more than 100,000 products.

Why would Egyptians buy products from overseas when most Western brands, from Ralph Lauren or H&M to Samsung and Apple, are available in one of the many city-like shopping centers in Egypt?

Often, products have inflated prices in Egypt, with shoppers often spending more than they would be had they been living in certain countries abroad. One of Edfa3ly’s recent ventures, Yashry.com, is a portal that provides items at up to 50 percent of local prices.

Still, online shoppers in Egypt often faced numerous obstacles: from the lack of credit cards that work overseas to orders not arriving.