Is Amazon Middle East the Next Big Opportunity for Sellers? Interview with Amazon SellersSociety‬

We interview Krystel, CEO and Founder of ‪@AmazonSellersSociety‬ , to break down everything you need to know about selling on Amazon in the Middle East — and why now is the time to pay attention.

We cover:
✅ Krystel's journey to founding Amazon Sellers Society
✅ Why the Middle East market is a massive opportunity for sellers
✅ How Amazon UAE differs from Amazon US in consumer behavior and demand
✅ The fastest-growing product categories right now
✅ What US sellers need to know before going live in the Middle East
✅ Legal and regulatory requirements for entering the market
✅ Who should (and shouldn't) expand into the Middle East yet

Whether you're an experienced Amazon seller looking to scale or just exploring new marketplaces, this conversation is packed with actionable insights you won't want to miss.

For the full interview, watch it here:

​Learn more about Amazon Sellers Society

Transcript

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Hey everyone, welcome back. I'm Joy and today I have such an exciting conversation lined up for you. I'm sitting down with Krystel, the CEO and founder of Amazon Seller Society to talk about one of the most overlooked opportunities in e-commerce right now, the Amazon UAE marketplace. So whether you're an experienced Amazon seller or just getting started, this interview is really going to open your eyes to what's uh possible in the Middle East market. Krystel, to get

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started, do you mind just sharing a bit about your journey to finding Amazon Seller Society and what really inspired you to focus specifically on the Middle East market? >> Thanks so much, Joy, for uh, for having me on. I'm really excited to, you know, share a little bit of knowledge about what's going on on Amazon's uh, uh, maybe little bit lesser known marketplaces like the Middle East. So we I started Amazon Sellers Society back in 2017. I had exited a couple of brands

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and then I decided to set up uh Amazon Sellers Society. The concept was to build a company that could merge community with also offering services and and support to tome sellers because I found like there was a big gap. I wasn't based in the Middle East. I wasn't even, you know, it wasn't even on my radar at that point in 2019 when Amazon purchased uh a local marketplace which was a dominant player in the Middle East and uh well they purchased it in around 2017 I believe but in 2019 they transformed that

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marketplace which was called Souk to Amazon. So now it was like on my radar. I'm originally Lebanese so I'm from the region as well. And because at that point I'd had built uh a lot of uh good contacts at Amazon. So I felt like this was the next frontier and it was a blue ocean. It still is by the way. So we decided to keep go coming and going to the market and then we set up our uh office which now became our main office in Dubai back in 2019 and we started as soon as Amazon

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started in the region and that gives us a unique perspective on the fact that we didn't start from from the market but we adapted to how the market works and and we've been going strong ever since. Just as a small you know highlight, Amazon under the Middle East umbrella currently operates four markets. So we're talking about UAE. Most notably everyone knows Dubai. So that's based in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt as well as Turkey. Those are all under the Middle East or what what Amazon dubbs the MENAT

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region. Definitely I would say if you look at the entirety of the region the UAE and Saudi Arabia would be the strongest markets in terms of commerce consumerism. >> Oh wow. Okay. Awesome. And Krystel basically you're kind of a pioneer I feel like in when it comes to the working in the Amazon space at least in the UAE and things like that. Awesome. And >> I think we took a gamble >> and it and it paid off. You know, I I didn't really foresee like I'm not going

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to pretend like I knew this was going to happen. But you know, I took a gamble and sometimes in business as as you know very well, Joy, sometimes it it works and sometimes it doesn't. If it doesn't, you pivot and and you do something else. >> But in our case, it worked. It didn't work immediately of course because we we grew as the market grew and we're still growing and the market is still growing as well. >> Awesome. And you know I guess here at Get Reviews we do majority of the

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sellers that we do work with are based primarily in the US and let's say Canada. So coming mostly from North America. But I would say for sellers who's never considered, you know, the UAE market, the Middle East, what would you say are some compelling reasons they should start paying attention to the market and maybe potential, you know, next marketplace that they can expand into? >> I would answer it quite simply. A lot of um because what who we work with are notably.

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So, and if you are somebody that's starting out and and looking to get started on Amazon, >> obviously you should get started where you you kind of live where it's easier for you. But if you have that flexibility, you should consider other marketplaces other than the well-known US, Canada, you know, North America or even some major, platforms in Europe. And the main purpose is a lot of people say in all types of businesses and Amazon is a business but a lot of people say oh I wish I started

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>> 10 years ago I wish I started five years ago. And that's where Amazon is in the Middle East. We are at a growth trajectory. This is not a mature market. And if you want to enter a market and if you have the patience to run a marathon rather than a sprint because it is a long-term play, then this is the right market for you. >> If you're looking to enter into a market that's extremely mature, high risk, high reward, this is not the market for you >> as it doesn't have the size and we'll

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get into that if you like and it doesn't have the maturity. So, yeah. So, if you ask yourself, do you wish you had started this e-commerce journey specifically on Amazon 10 years ago, this is the market for you. >> Oh, wow. Interesting. And I like the metaphor that you're using. It's not a sprint. Um, but it is kind of a long-term German journey that you want to look at when it comes to entering the, you know, Middle East market. And I would say that's also for all of e-commerce, right? I think a lot of

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people tend to, you know, think that they can go into e-commerce and, kind of get rich quick. U, but I would say it's kind of the opposite where it's definitely a marathon. Yeah. Awesome. And, I would love to know, you know, how would you say the Amazon Middle East marketplace differs from, let's say, Amazon North America in terms of more like consumer behavior, product demand, like purchasing power? What would you say? Yeah, let's talk about the pros and the cons as well

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because like anything there's always a positive and a negative and it depends on what the seller and the brand themselves are looking for. >> The negative part of the Middle East in general and you know where Amazon is situated which is the UAE because that's what we're primarily talking about but as well as Saudi Arabia is the fact that the population is small. So the population of the UAE, a lot of people know Dubai, a lot of people watch, you know, if you haven't visited as a as

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a just to do tourism, a lot of people know, you know, flashy cars and stuff like that in Dubai, which is Yeah, definitely. Uh but not everyone. But yeah, of course, there's a I would say it's maybe very close to Miami for anyone that's watching from the US, but >> it's a small country. The entirety of the country has a population of 11 million. So that's probably less than a state in the US. And that is definitely an issue because when you have a smaller market, you just have a

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smaller customer base. So at the end of the day, that's also something that would be a major con for the market. A few major pros would be like I had said since this market is on a growth trajectory e-commerce in general is seeing a growth rate an annual compounded growth rate of about anywhere between 17 to 19% year on year which is insane because if you if you look at the European markets which are definitely saturated we're seeing a growth of maybe 1 to 2% year on year. So, we're seeing a

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big growth. The positive thing is the median age of people living in the UAE is about 32 years old. So, that's the perfect age for ecom. Third, the UAE in particular, I've never met anyone from any country that doesn't tell me, oh, I know so and so, a friend my from friend from my school, my cousin, my brother that lives in Dubai or in or anywhere in the UAE. So, it's a giant melting pot with a lot of expats, which makes it quite interesting in terms of how people

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like what people buy. It's not an Arab country per se. Of course, it is, but it has a majority like we're talking about eight 90% of people living in the UAE are expats from every single country you would imagine. So, which makes it easy if you want to sell any product because most likely you're going to find customers that are looking for it. And third, well, I think we're on point number four. You know, a lot of people know this fact that the UAE in particular doesn't have income tax, very

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lenient in terms of taxes. That's why it attracts so many millionaires and billionaires to set up their residence in the UAE. And because of that, you've got, you know, if you are a salaried worker or an employee, you're taking home much more than you would for the same exact job with the same exact salary if you're working like in the UK as an example, >> which basically means people have more disposable income. And because they have more disposable income, when we check on Amazon, we see that the

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average order value is actually higher than it is in Europe. So, people are willing to purchase more products. Now, that doesn't mean that they're willing to buy anything because when you live in a country like the UAE where the expectations are quite high, you know, you go to a restaurant, as an example, service is always 10 over 10. You go to a store anywhere, service and quality is always very high. So that's what you expect. And that expectation also translates to when you buy things on

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Amazon. So customers aren't necessarily looking for the cheapest product. It's not a price sensitive market, but it is a market where you cannot get away if you're not if your product isn't like the definition of perfection. So that's also something that could be a pro and a con as well. Yeah, absolutely. But I love that you mentioned that in terms of yes, you see Dubai being as a very flashy, you know, you see the nice cars, the nice restaurants, the nice clothing, but yes, in terms of people will have

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higher disposable income with some of the, you know, different laws like around taxes and things like that, but at the end of the day, customers have a lot more expectations when it comes to the product and the quality. So, I love that you touched on that. Awesome. And you know at least here in North America, I see in a lot of the Amazon sellers that we work with they tend to be primarily in let's say like uh nowadays we're seeing that the most popular categories are let's say um

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supplements, pets. Those are some of our most popular categories that we're seeing sellers in. Um, I'd love to know in your experience and in your experience, what product categories are you currently seeing like the strongest growth in right now? >> Very good question. Thank you for that. And I think it's quite interesting. But I just wanted to highlight one thing that I forgot Joy about, you know, positives and negatives of entering into the UAE. And then I'll segue into the

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answer to your question. The positive thing is, and this is interesting when a lot of people discover it, you do not have to have a local entity in the UAE in order to become a seller on Amazon UAE. So, you could literally utilize your US LLC, register an account, and just get going. So, it is quite an easy market to get into. That's also something that I wanted to say. So, back to your question, I think it's actually very similar to what you touched on, and I think it's because also, you know, Miami

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vibes, the weather is always beautiful. People are always outside. In summer, it's quite hot and humid for sure, >> and people are mostly young, so everybody wants to look really good. So, yes, I would say electronics and electronic accessories would be the number one category across the board. After that would be beauty and personal care under which comes supplements. Huge supplement, wellness industry here. >> if you follow like I do all of the major supplement brands in the US

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their second market is normally Europe of course after Europe they immediately jump to the UAE. >> Wow. Europe would be in particular either the UK or Germany just because obviously the the sheer size and volume of the market and then they would jump to the UAE just because the UAE in general is very well known for its fitness industry, fantastic gyms, all worldclass athletes come here during the winter months to train. So a lot of also a lot of influencers in that space. So very big fitness uh very very

00:14:01

big fitness outdoors activity paddle you name it or you name it is here. So yes that but beauty also when it comes to Korean beauty products cosmetics huge beauty >> a huge beauty um like industry and demand. Recently, as of a couple of months ago, Ulta actually opened physical stores here. Wow. >> Which hasn't done so in like I believe a lot of inter I I don't know if there's an Ulta in Europe even, but um you know, they entered into the Middle East through the UAE.

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>> So yes, lots of demand for beauty products. Pet supplies definitely since the pandemic people are obsessed with dogs and cats and yes definitely for sure. So that would be a third category as well. But also a category which is very easy to get into often probably boring. Uh is the home and kitchen category as a lot of people tend to just like in a lot of major cities tend to move every year or so. They move they change their lease. They move to a new apartment, smaller, bigger, different area and also a lot of people

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moving in, moving out. So that category also is very very uh very interesting and very in demand as well. >> Wow. That's you hit on some great points and it's really interesting. I mean coming from Canada, we don't even have an Alta in Canada. So the fact that and we're you know right neighbors with the US, right? So the fact that Ulta is actually in Dubai, it's crazy to me actually. >> Awesome. And >> it's actually got literally two stores.

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It opened two stores back to back in two of the biggest malls, which was interesting. Yeah. But again, Joy, you go back to the main issue is that the market is small, very strong, but it's small. So that's something that I need to realize. It's small. The population is 11 million. Yes, you've got around 20 million tourists coming to the country every single year, but you know, a tourist isn't potentially maybe your target audience. They do buy things, but yeah, that's take into consideration.

00:16:17

>> Yeah, absolutely. Sounds good. I know you kind of hit on a lot of points that you know regarding what US sellers or you know what sellers outside the Middle East should consider before going live in the Middle East, but I'm curious if there was any other kind of considerations you think sellers should look into or if there's any specific like legal or regulatory requirements that sellers should be aware of before entering the market. >> The requirements are quite simple. So if

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you if you do want to become a local entity, it's quite simple. You don't you can do everything online. You don't even need to come to to to Dubai in order to register your company. You can literally register a company online. It takes about 5 days. >> The advantage of that would be the taxes and corporate taxes, just 9%, no income tax, no personal tax, nothing like that. But you can still if you want to dip your toe in the market per se, you can still use your original LLC setup or

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your LTD if you're in the UK or anything like that. The majority of major countries are able to set up. The only additional thing would be that you would be required to register for what is known as VAT, value added tax or which is like the equivalent of the sales tax in the US. you're liable to collect that tax from the customer when they're purchasing on Amazon and you're liable to file for the VAT every 3 months. It's also done online. It's quite a simple thing, but that's also something to take

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into consideration. And the value added tax is just 5% in the UAE. That would be the only thing that you would require as a seller on Amazon. Other than that, there's no issue. The country itself has the full e-commerce setup that you would imagine. Every single service that you would require that you would find in North America or Europe, you've got that and it's at world class 3PLs, whatever you might require. Everything is here. So, a lot of sellers are able to do the full setup, start selling,

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ship products into the UAE, everything without even having ever visited. >> And you know, it's it's it's quite easy. It's quite easy to be done. One additional thing, if you know your geography, you kind of know that the UAE in of in of itself is not only its airport, but its ports are a very vital point where there's a lot of from Asia to Europe type of situation. So, a lot of people ship their products sometimes to the port here and then they distribute their products in in Europe.

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So that's why there's a lot of shipping lines. There's a lot of the airport is obviously world-class. A lot of people who travel to Asia tend to have a stop either here or in Doha and Qatar. >> Yeah. >> As those are like the biggest locations here for international travel. So it makes it easy if you want to if you're manufacturing in places like China and you want to ship your products. >> Yeah, that's such a key point. And I never realized that when I was

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looking into for example flights from Europe to Asia, I noticed that there was always a layover in either Dubai or Doha. So I was very surprised by that. So I feel like those two regions are kind of the center point in terms of logistics and business I think especially when it comes to Asia and Europe and acting as the bridge together. >> You're right with very strong airlines as well. Yes. um Emirates and Qatar Airways for for Doha. And yeah, so anytime I'm invited anywhere, I'm like,

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I don't worry, I'm fine. I can go anywhere because I'll literally find 10 flights to take me anywhere. So yeah, >> exactly. Awesome. And I know Krystel, we're almost at time, but I would love to see, you know, if you mind just sharing, you know, where can people find you and the Amazon Seller Society if they want to work with you or just want to learn more? Thanks so much. So we have a very active YouTube channel called Amazon Sellers Society where u like I said in the beginning our journey is to combine both

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community as well as services that a seller might require. So we support end-to-end operational services. We work with Amazon directly. Obviously we're an independent agency but we're fully certified by Amazon. We work very closely with the Amazon team. We also work with the government of Dubai as well to support localmemes. So with that being said on the YouTube channel, anything that you might imagine, we've been putting out content since 2020. So whatever you think of, we've covered it.

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So if you want like general information, go there. If you want some more in-depth uh information, you'd like to ask us something, you want to figure out what we do, our website is also Amazon Sellers Society. If you just add it in Google, you'll find us and you'll be able to just contact us. Our main office is in Dubai. We also have an office in Turkey in Istanbul. And we have our European office in Estonia as well. >> Oh wow, awesome. Sounds good. But I want to thank Krystel again for your

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time and insights. This has not just been helpful for me, but I'm sure our viewers as well. And please make sure you check out their YouTube channel so you can keep watching Krystel's beautiful face, but they also have so much helpful content and information. But we'll have more information on Amazon Sellers Society and where you can find Krystel in the description box below. But again, Krystel, I again do want to thank you so much for taking your time to speak with us. Awesome.

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>> Thanks so much. Thank you, Joy.