Customer experience are our USPS’
Marwan Chaar, co-chief executive officer, Kavak, GCC; spoke exclusively with Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the launch event on November 10.
Edited excerpts from the interview:
What are the product differentiators?
Kavak focuses on two things: high quality cars and an incredible customer experience. We own all our cars, no middlemen. We provide long-term warranties on the car that are backed by our own in-house reconditioning centre.
How Carzaty is helping Kavak to expand in the region?
Carzaty was acquired by Kavak because of our local expertise and knowledge of the region. We started operations in the Sultanate of Oman and expanded to the UAE. My Omani partner Hassan Jaffar Al Lawati and I are the two co-founders of Carzaty. We were born and raised in the GCC and built a company for the region.
What’s the initial target for Kavak as far as buying and selling cars are concerned?
Kavak is already one of the largest used car retailers in the UAE and our plan is to double in size by mid-2023 growing our inventory to over 1,000 cars and serving 1,000 customers per month. The initial investment in the region is $130 (Dh477.49) million for the next two years and targets the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as our next market for
How can Kavak disrupt the secondary car market in the region?
Kavak disrupts the market from two sides: for customers selling their cars, we provide the highest instant cash offering in the market with same day purchases and the convenience of home service. For customers buying cars from us, we provide a wide selection of high-quality cars at transparent fixed prices removing the haggling typically associated with used car sales. In addition, the budget that Kavak has allocated to the region will allow the company to scale its inventory and to build worldclass facilities that better serve the customers.
How has the impact of the launch been?
The feedback of the customer experience has been very positive. Customers love the experience. We expect traffic to the hub to grow quickly following the launch, which will increase the number of cars that we buy and sell.