Neelwafurat.com
Neelwafurat.com (Arabic نيل و فرات.كوم) is an Internet e-commerce website, similar to amazon.com, which serves primarily the Middle East and Arab World. The company sells books, magazines, films and software. It was founded and launched in 1998,[1] and was part of a large boom in Arab World use of e-commerce.[2] The name Neelwafurat is a term referring to the Nile and Euphrates rivers (neel means "Nile", "wa" is a phonetic spelling of the specific letter waw, and furat means "Euphrates"). This is a reference to the Amazon.com connection with the Amazon River.
 | |
| Type of business | e-commerce |
|---|---|
Type of site | e-commerce |
| Available in | Arabic |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Headquarters | Beirut, Lebanon |
| Area served | Middle East |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Books, Music, DVDs, Gifts. |
| URL | Neelwafurat.com |
| Launched | 1998 |
Neelwafurat's headquarters is located in Beirut, Lebanon. There is an additional branch in Egypt.[3]
In 2004, the two best-selling novels on Neelwafurat were Cities of Salt by Abdul-Rahman Munif and The Insane Asylum by Ghazi al-Gosaibi, however both of these books were banned in Saudi Arabia.[4] The web retailer is seen as a primary part of Lebanon's New Economy, and is a major outlet for independent publishers.[5]
Neelwafurat's primary competitors are adabwafan.com and e-kotob.com.[6]
References
- staff (December 21, 1998). "Software Center introduces the first commercial Arabic library on the Internet". M2 Presswire.
- Nasser, Zeid (July 1, 1999). "Arabs go e-shopping". The Star. Jordan.
- "About the Company". Neelwafurat.com. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
- Saleh Ambah, Faiza (April 8, 2004). "Banned Saudi novels thrive abroad - and at home". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
- AKAŞ, CEM (July 28, 2006). "Beyrut'un kitapları". Radikal (in Turkish). Retrieved 10 August 2010.
- Tresilian, David (July 26, 2006). "Publish or perish". Al-Ahram. Archived from the original on 3 April 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2010.