Jang Group, Google to launch Pakistan's biggest online shopping festival

KARACHI: In an effort to boost the adoption of online shopping in Pakistan, the Jang Media Group and Google have come together to launch the concept of the Great Online Shopping Festival (GOSF.live) – slated for 28th, 29th and 30th September, 2016.

The festival will see participation from over 50 partners, including leading e-commerce, local and online vendors, brands, retail outlets, FMCG, CPG and BFSI, offering their best deals to customers all across Pakistan and globally for the Pakistani Diaspora for 72 hours.

The users will be able to preview deals 10 days in advance and register with online push notifications for hourly deals so they do not forget them on the day they are offered. The website will also remind all registered users about upcoming flash deals — an industry first. Furthermore, there will be daily deals and specials across retailers and vendors, with up to 70 percent off.

The GOSF.live initiative is aimed at encouraging shoppers to adopt online shopping, and is focused on reaching out to online and offline buyers. The participating companies will also offer exclusive deals for online buyers on their websites. The festival will offer participants an opportunity to shop for jewelry, shoes, apparel, travel, books, kids wear, gadgets, watches, computer accessories, health & fitness equipment, home decor products, and other deals in a host of categories by 50+ e-commerce and industry players.

IMM-Jang Media Group’s Faizan Siddiqi said, “The Jang Media Group is proud to have built all the technology and services for GOSF.live in Pakistan and is proud to be a part of this historic online shopping festival, in a bid to promote ecommerce and e-tailing far and wide across Pakistan and bring the convenience of big city commerce to the farthest parts of the country.”

The GOSF model is a tried and tested model that Google has undertaken in other countries, including Singapore, India and Sri Lanka; an initiative which has been credited with catalysing native e-commerce industry growth in the aforementioned markets.

The online shopping industry is estimated to be growing in excess of 100 percent year on year, and GOSF.live is looking to drive that to even greater heights by reaching out and promoting the concept of online shopping to first-time buyers. With the massive gains in connectivity and Internet penetration brought upon by the advent of 3G/4G, coupled with some of the lowest mobile data rates in the world, Pakistan is primed to experience massive growth in e-commerce adoption.