Online shopping is thriving so is the demand for home delivery agents. The boom in e-commerce is a global phenomenon driven by precautionary measures and lockdowns to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Customers also felt it convenient to buy anything from grocery items to live cattle using smartphones during the closure of many activities that lasted for months in Oman and elsewhere.
Just by pressing one button, one can have his choice of food, clothes, books, toys, and even favourite meals from different restaurants. The beauty of it is getting them fresh at the door-step.
Officials in the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology emphasised that the ‘Shop from Your Home’ initiative launched earlier this year was supportive for those working in the goods delivery businesses.
Saleh bin Saleh al Shuaili, a founding partner of Mandoob, said that the demand for home delivery services has increased dramatically, “which led to an increase in the number of part-time workers of which 3,000 are Omani youths.
Al Shuaili added: “The company employees take all the preventive precautions to ensure the safety of consumers and workers. We communicate with many shops and institutions that provide basic commodities people need. We deliver them to consumers’ homes in the various governorates of the Sultanate.”
According to the ministry, the income of some Omanis working in delivery services has reached RO 980 per month amid the outbreak of the COVID-19. Statistics indicate that some electronic platforms get 15,000 requests daily on an average. One-day delivery has become a new competitive advantage, which has attracted last-minute shoppers on various festival occasions such as Ramadhan and Eid.
The ‘Delivery Person’ profession is considered promising as income goes up along with demand and it can also be practised as a part-time job. Many Omani start-ups in delivery services have expanded across the Sultanate and hired hundreds of citizens as their employees.
The ministry is working to establish an integrated national platform for the registration of the national workforce in the field of delivery to ensure the highest standards of efficiency. And because this kind of job requires multiple skills related to e-commerce and customer satisfaction and the use of modern technologies like tracking, the ministry said the training would be provided to the young Omanis once the platform is ready.
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