Iranian E-Commerce Players Compete for Yalda Campaign

This year, Iranian e-commerce websites surprised their customers with some of the biggest promotional discounts for Yalda festival[1]. The special offers started from a few days ago and will last at least until tomorrow.

Digikala calls its Yalda promotion campaign “the biggest sale in Iran’s history”. The offer is called “Yaldaye Shegeftangiz” meaning The Amazing Yalda. The offer started from Saturday December 19th and will end on Thursday December 24, 2015. The website is also offering free shipping for order over 100,000 Tomans (about $30).

During the campaign, 5 items will receive a heavy discount every day. Digikala’s daily offers are also changed to 2 hours offers. Where in every two hours, 10 items go on sale. This year, Digikala is celebrating its 9 year anniversay. The company is considered the biggest e-commerce website in the MENA region.

Bamilo, the biggest rival of Digikala is also holding big sales up to 80 percent. During Bamilo’s Yalda campaign customers will receive a surprise gift from Bamilo in their orders. The gifts range from clothes to cosmetics and other products. Currently Bamilo has 150,000 items on its website from more than 250 brands. Bamilo is also offering free shipping for its items valued at 50,000 Tomans (about $15) or more.

Last month, Bamilo introduced Iranians with the concept of promotional sales on Black Friday. The Black Friday campaign on Bamilo made a number of controversies. Though according to Bamilo the promotion was a success, some of the customers expressed their complaints of the campaign over the social media. It seems that this time Bamilo took a better approach in terms of offering discounts and choosing a sales campaign suitable with the Iranian culture.

Buyex and Zanbil are some of the other e-commerce websites offering discounts for this time of year. Limited-time special offers during holidays and festivals are still a new concept for online shopping websites in Iran. Hopefully the growth in the number of online shopping websites and the battle between the dominant companies in the market will help the Iranian customer who did not have that many choices a few years ago.

On this night, TechRasa team wishes you a happy Yalda. May the longest and darkest night of the year be the beginning of a bright and happy new day for you.

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[1] Shab-e Yalda (Meaning Yalda Night) is an Iranian festival which is considered as the night off of December solstice. During Yalda night, friends and family members gather around and stay up past midnight to eat and recite the poems of Hafez.