Hayat Alyaqout interviews the entrepreneurs of the project and discovers more about eJilbab and how it came into being.
1. How did the idea of eJilbab come in the first place?
We’ve been in this business for more than 14 years working in local markets. From our experience, we noticed that most of our merchants make orders from the U.S.A., Canada, the U.K. and Europe.
This is when the idea of making a convenient communication medium for a faster, easier, and cost effective service came into being. We decided to make an online store to serve Muslims in the West, since they are suffering from a lack of good Islaamic clothes.
2. How did you start the business and did you have any partners? What difficulties did you face?
We believe it is not an easy mission to start up an online business. This is because of many elements, such as the variety of tastes from the global customer, religious conflict like in Europe, geographic destination between customer and seller, and more. It was pretty hard for eJilbab.com to compete and sell online for the global market. The main difficulties for this kind of business are the technical issues of online commerce systems, and limited market shares, since there are very limited customers who shop online, because of security and trust elements.
3. How and where are the clothes in eJilbab designed and produced?
All eJilbab products are manufactured by us in Jordan. In-house production gives us more flexibility to reach our customer’s needs and tastes. Also, the apparel designs are inspired by our creative designer before proceeding to production.
4. How are clothes delivered to the customer?
Since the main factory is located in Jordan, we ship all online orders through international express delivery to any country.
5. Do you think Muslim women in the West have special needs in clothing, and how do you respond to these needs? Do you conduct any studies to check their trends and taste?
Definitely! The customer’s taste can vary from country to country, and this is because of many vital elements, such as the glife style, the weather conditions, quality perception, place of residency, and more. These elements can affect the Muslim woman’s taste and buying behaviour to buy wintry or summer apparel, to wear abayas (‘abaa-ahs) or jilbaabs, to wear ’hijaabs or not.
For example in Europe, the Muslim women look for higher quality apparel, and in U.S.A. they are looking for affordable prices. To improve our business, we are always carrying out customer surveys from time to time to measure our credibility, service promptness, and product quality. It is essential to see our progress in the e-marketing competition.
6. How many people are working on the project?
25 Muslim employees are working like one family, sharing the same Islaamic values.
7. How do you evaluate the response of your female customers to e-shopping?
Most of them they prefer the direct shopping rather than online shopping, but the online experience has good advantages for a more convenient way to communicate and buy at the same time. It is also a time saver for busy people. First time online shoppers always have safety concerns about credit card fraud, selling vital information to third parties and so on.
This is why we always try to pay serious attention to these issues by implementing the latest security technologies and policies to protect the financial and personal information of our customers.
Our target audience age ranges from 18 – 45 with most of them living in the U.S.A., Canada, the U.K. and Australia.
8. Why eJilbab and not eHijab or eKhimar?
Because our main item production are Jilbaabs, and “e” stands for electronic.
9. Does eJilbab have head quarters or is it totally based online?
We have head quarters. The main factory is located in Jordan, and we have a representing office in U.S.A.
10. Did you notice any difference between Arab women in the West and Western Muslim women?
Of course! Most Arab women don’t appreciate online shopping and this is because they have relatives in Arab countries so they can ask their families to buy them clothes. Most Western Muslim women are new to the Islaamic dress code, and they are learning how to differentiate between the ‘abaa-ah, Jilbaab and dishdaash, since these terms are Arabic. Currently, most Muslim women are looking for practical Islaamic clothes for their work and lifestyle to merge with the society they live in.
eJilbab.com
Islamic Clothing for Her
For more information, visit
www.ejilbab.com