ⓘ Featured image credits: Supplied
Plant & Equipment, a leading online marketplace and industry news platform for the construction equipment markets in the Middle East and Africa, has launched a revamped website, PlantAndEquipment.com with enhanced tools for customers to buy or sell used & new machinery and commercial vehicles online.
The revamp comes as businesses and buyers are increasingly seeking online platforms to continue their trade, with the coronavirus pandemic having caused the postponement of many trade fairs and sales events, where traditionally deals are completed over a handshake.
Zayd Kuba, Managing Director of Middle East Strategic Advertising (MESA), the publisher of Plant & Equipment in a statement said,
“The pandemic may accelerate the trend towards digital sales platforms for business-to- business (B2B) sellers, which lags behind trends in the consumer space in the Middle East and Africa,”
Commenting over the importance of leveraging digital platforms amid the pandemic situation, Kuba added that,
“Businesses are looking for online platforms where they can generate not only exposure for their brand but also receive direct enquiries and actually conclude sales,”
Plant & Equipment launched its first website two years ago, and witnessed consistent year-on-year growth in terms of traffic and daily enquiries. As said by Kuba in the statement, the number of daily enquiries was around 300, which is now skyrocketed and the total monthly website visitors has increased to 120,000.
The newly-launched version of the website now exhibits enhanced paid dealer listings and improved search functionality that enables visitors to conveniently search for the brand or product that they are looking for. On top of that, users now also can evaluate their buying decision on the basis of specifications such as price, age, hours or mileage.
Revealing the details about the website traffic, Kuba said,
“Many of our site visitors are buyers looking for specific products, not just generic construction traffic,”
The website has listings from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and also machinery and commercial vehicle dealers and distributors, including Al Tayer Motors, Al-Bahar and Al Naboodah in the UAE. Categories with high levels of enquiries include excavators, cranes, wheel loaders, concrete equipment and trucks. Plant & Equipment covers broad geography including the GCC, wider Middle East, and Africa. The top five countries in terms of traffic are the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria.
Despite a possible slow down across the construction sector globally due to the pandemic, Kuba believes this will produce new opportunities for sellers and buyers, and may also see renewed focus from international sellers towards buyers in the Middle East and Africa.
“Many of the dealers that sell on our platform are based in the US or Europe. Typically, when the construction industry in the US booms, their rental fleets grow. If the construction business there takes a hit, we expect machinery exports to grow as rental fleets downsize, meaning it will be a good time for contractors in the Middle East or Africa to look for used equipment from the US or Europe.” says Kuba
The company also rolls out its magazines every two months which are available online and offline – distributed across the Middle East and Africa. The magazines cover industry news and in-depth analysis. Plant & Equipment has published over 200 magazines until date.
