Saudi Arabian fashion e-commerce platform Nejree has raised USD 15 million in a Series A round led by Impact46’s growth fund, it announced in a statement. The round takes Nejree’s total financing to over USD 19 million. The Riyadh-headquartered startup raised USD 4 million in a pre-Series A round in December 2019.
Founded in 2018 by Ibrahim Al Mogren, Nejree started as an online retailer for sneakers but now also sells apparel. The web and mobile-based platform features products for men, women, and kids from leading international brands, including Adidas, Nike, Lacoste, Puma, Under Armour, Reebok, Converse, and others.
Its latest offering, Nejree Closet, enables customers to try products in their homes before they buy them. The service, which is being termed “try now, buy later” (TNBL) by the Saudi platform, is available for free to customers and aims to make the purchase decision easier. Customers can add products on Nejree to their try-on cart and have them delivered to their homes, so they can spend time with the products and choose the items they would like to purchase.
It addresses many customers’ concerns when buying apparel and shoes online, including fit-size issues and being uncertain about the feel, look, and quality of the products. It has basically taken the best things from the offline shopping experience and packaged them into its online offering.
Nejree claims that it is the first online platform to have introduced such an option at scale. Since the launch of the new offering three months ago, Nejree Closet has shipped 100,000 products for try-ons, according to the startup in a statement, adding that it has seen growth of over 50% in average order value and conversion rate during this period.
Ibrahim Al Mogren, the founder and CEO of Nejree, in a statement, said, “We have released five app updates in less than 60 days to deliver the Nejree Closet experience at scale. A whole ecosystem is very critical for the success of this service, we are investing tremendously in the whole in-house supply chain and infrastructure from logistics, operations, real-time updates, and automation.” He also stated that it would take a lot of money and awareness for the concept to get to mass adoption, but eventually, the whole industry will move towards the TNBL model.
The latest funds will be used to fuel the growth of Nejree Closet. The startup will also use the investment to introduce new categories and brands, and launch new markets. “We are thrilled to have obtained the trust and support from Impact46, a leading VC in the region, which will bring more expertise and value,” noted the CEO in a statement.
Abdulrahman Almodaimigh, a managing partner at Impact46, said, “Nejree is tackling a great challenge in the e-commerce space, addressing customer pain points with the ordering online experience through Nejree Closet’s TNBL model. With the right framework, innovative technology, and the team behind Nejree, the platform is set to play a driving role in growing the market.”
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This article was originally published on MENAbytes.