Discussion Topic: Impact of Covid-19 on E-Business Strategies and Business Models of Saudi Arabian companies

Action points:

1st Post: Select any one company from the kingdom and discuss the impact of Covid-19 on its existing business strategies and business models. Write your first post as per the stated theme.

2nd Post: Raise questions by reading the post of other students and write comment on their post (Minimum one student)

3rd Post: Suggest one suggestion to the selected company to overcome the impact of Covid-19 on its business

Jarir Bookstore is Saudi Arabia’s largest retailer of books and consumer electronics, with over 37 branches across the Kingdom. Has about 12,000 employees with a turnover of around 233.7 million SR in 2019.

Jarir offer mobile app, delivering best-in-class user experience for their customers. On-brand visual designs complemented improved information architecture and interface interactions, creating user journeys that were quicker and, more importantly, frustration free. While an established and trusted brand, Jarir faced the same challenges as most retailers in Saudi looking to enter the digital commerce market, the internal Jarir team were provided with detailed style guides and interaction maps to enable them to apply our designs and information architecture throughout their digital ecosystem.

Jarir Marketing Company announced the extent to which its operations are affected by the change in logistical procedures and manufacturing operations in countries affected by the Corona virus.

The company explained that these measures did not have a fundamental impact on the company's operations nor on the level of inventory, due to the presence of sufficient merchandise reserves.

The company confirmed that it has not noticed a fundamental negative impact on the company's sales so far, which is shown by the preliminary indicators of business results during the period since the beginning of the year.

She added, "We do not currently have information indicating the possibility of a negative impact on the supply of goods during the coming period."

The Saudi government recently took several precautionary measures to limit the spread of the new Corona virus, which included the temporary suspension of studies in all regions and governorates of the Kingdom.

The main activity of the company is focused on trading stationery and school supplies, publications, books, educational aids, computer software, mobile phones and accessories.

The company operates in its operational sectors, which include retail, wholesale and e-commerce within Saudi Arabia, in addition to its entry into the GCC markets.

Abdul Karim Al-Aqeel, CEO of Jarir Marketing Company, said that electronic sales orders during the Corona virus pandemic reached an unprecedented number and in record time.

He explained that the Jarir team was able to adapt despite the circumstances, as new channels and shipping centers were opened that enabled excellent customer service, adding that the company retained all its employees during the crisis, and this includes non-Saudis who have not been able to return to the Kingdom so far.

Impact of Covid-19

Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil producer, has reported net revenue of ($49 billion) for the entire year of 2020, 44 percent lower than in 2019 (Construction Week, 2021). The significant impact of COVID-19 has increased the company's strong focus on capital and operational efficiency across the world economy.

The COVID-19 epidemic and its resulting lockdown have brought about a significant upheaval of the economy, which has led Saudi Aramco to change its approach to business strategy rapidly. The company must now go from offline to online rapidly, requiring a new business strategy approach. Enterprises were forced to cut their staff, give up physical locations and limit customer interactions to digital talks.

With COVID-19 requires social separation and work from home, enterprises face a level of IT issues unprecedented. In order to immediately enhance system resilience, the C-Suite executives must make real-time decisions and manage both internal and external activities online. In many circumstances, the IT infrastructure is required for a thorough makeover (Business standard, 2020).

The supply chain operations have undergone a paradigm shift, as the transport and distribution installations have either been shut down or severely constrained. So Saudi Aramco can only satisfy a percentage of their client demand and must adapt swiftly to new channels – especially electronic commerce – to survive (Shah, 2020).

Towards the present and future concerns, team members and managers fight to acclimatize to virtual work. As Saudi Aramco is fighting to satisfy demand, employees are concerned that salary cuts or possibly job losses are involved.

Suggestion to ARAMCO to overcome the impact of Covid-19

Nobody could have expected the COVID-19 lock-out. Now, more than ever, it is important for companies like Saudi Aramco to be as nimble and smartly and optimally adjusted to a primarily online working method. This demands the active support of the team and comprehensive knowledge of the market's prospects (Business standard, 2020).

It's not merely a result of COVID-19 for digital transformation. The move to digital is not just about establishing a website and launching social media marketing for Saudi Aramco. So I suggest the team must determine effective methods for staying connected and doing business at home while still being in touch with the requirements and expectations of consumers.

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