Doha: More companies in Qatar are expected to get Qatar’s Theqa trustmark. More than 350 companies are likely to take Theqa trustmark this year, said an expert during a webinar.
“MCIT is trying to fill the gap by bringing in the Theqa trustmark for the customers in the country. The entire objective of this initiative is inspiring trust and confidence within the buyers so that they can make informed decisions and it supports the entire e-commerce system by helping to do with various guidelines and technology and design and development of the product, to ensure the payment gateways are much secure,” Harish Nair, an e-commerce expert said.
“In 2019 there were about 45 organisations who took the Theqa trustmark and in 2020 it rose to 125 which was a huge jump and in 2021 around 250 companies got the Theqa trustmark as they were qualified and are displaying it on their websites. By 2022 it is expected to touch 350 plus organisations,” he added.
Nair was speaking during the webinar, entitled ‘Your key to a trustworthy ecommerce website: Theqa trustmark’, held by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT).
Theqa trustmark is first of its kind that is launched by Qatar to empower or enhance the e-commerce industry. There is no fee associated with the process getting the trustmark, the only criteria is to meet the requirements outlined to the guidelines from the government. Theqa aims to empower consumers and business.
Nair noted “Theqa’s objective is to support Qatar’s e-commerce sector, where there is significant opportunity to grow domestic sales in online retail. To engage with online vendors as partners, providing support and education in areas that are critical to success and to accelerate their adoption of e-commerce in line with government and international standards. To empower consumers and businesses to rapidly and safely grow the local e-commerce market.”
He elaborated that the interest from the local community to buy from local merchants or e-merchants has increased in last few years because of the new initiatives that have come in through MCIT and the entire fraternity. MCIT is supporting the e-merchants as well as the buyers to increase their confidence to bring in more credibility to this entire e-business platform which is all the stakeholders involved in the business that is vendors, suppliers, e-merchants and the customers.
“Theqa for SMEs is resolving challenges which is being addressed through this initiative. We have ways which is helping the SMEs to resolve all of these issues as MCIT is providing required support and data. Theqa is helping to make the entire platform credible and bring in the required policy and the framework which ensures protection of consumers data,” he added.
Any successful international market with e-merchants succeeds because of the digital infrastructure which is in the country and the confidence that e-merchant is offering to the consumer in terms of data protection and the trust that they have in their e-merchants.
Speaking about the positive of growth in Qatar he said, “We have seen 25 to 35 percent growth in e-commerce market which is very promising in the coming near future.”
