RIYADH — Zoho recently launched an e-commerce solution, Zoho Commerce, to help businesses set up and manage online sales. Zoho Commerce is powered by Zoho's AI assistant Zia and is VAT-compliant. Deep integration with other Zoho products like Zoho Books (online accounting software) and Zoho Campaigns (email campaigns software), h elps businesses take care of the front and back end of their e-commerce operations.

The growth rate of the e-commerce market in KSA is expected to be 42% by 2020, one of the highest in the GCC region. This growth will be hand-in-hand with Internet penetration, which is expected to be over 90% by 2020.

"Any business without an online presence will find itself struggling for market share, and will sooner or later be disrupted," said Hyther Nizam, President MEA, Zoho Corp. "Zoho Commerce makes it easy for businesses to start selling online. Together with Zoho's ecosystem of products, businesses can catapult their growth by optimizing their business while also automating their back-end processes."

Highlights of Zoho Commerce:

• Ease of setting up online presence: Zoho Commerce has a drag-and-drop website builder and several templates that allow businesses to quickly set up an online store with minimal effort. The templates can be further customized to suit the needs of a business.

• Inventory and order management: Businesses can streamline and synchronize their orders to ensure they are filed on time, while keeping a track of their inventory. F or tracking items sold across multiple channels, businesses can use Zoho Inventory, which is integrated with Commerce.

• AI assistance: Zoho's AI assistant, Zia, helps provide product recommendations to potential customers based on their purchasing pattern. Zia can also automate processes like sending emails on cart abandonment.

• Local payment gateway integration: Zoho Commerce integrates with several payment gateways, including PayTabs and PayPal.

• VAT compliance: Zoho Commerce follows VAT rules, and users can easily file their taxes online using Zoho Books, with which it deeply integrates.

• Integrations: Zoho Commerce is integrated with SalesIQ (live chat and visitor tacking tool), PageSense (A/B testing and conversion rate optimization platform), CRM, and Campaigns, apart from Zoho Books and Inventory. Together, these integrations allow businesses to find, convert, and nurture customers. Businesses can also integrate with third-party apps using Zoho Flow.

Zoho Commerce is available immediately in different plans, starting from $20 per month when billed annually. For more details, please visit: https://www.zoho.in/commerce/pricing.html — SG