Admitad’s key takeaways from Seamless Middle East 2023: witnessing a partner marketing boom in MENA

For the last 24 years, Seamless Middle East – the region’s leading exhibition and conference exploring the future of digital commerce – has served as a gathering place for the brightest and most innovative minds in the MENA digital sphere.

This year’s SeamlessDXB event, held in Dubai on May 23rd, had more than 20,000 regional and global attendees and featured talks from inspiring speakers and innovative brands showcasing their latest tech. 

With a focus on digital technologies including Fintech, digital marketing, online payments and banking, identity protection & privacy, retail & e-commerce and home delivery, this year saw the first-ever dedicated affiliate marketing conference at the event.

And we had this rare opportunity of introducing the first ever #affiliatemarketing track of the conference!

Anna Gidirim, CEO at Admitad, was interviewed by Shyair Ganglani, Co-Founder of METACOM, during an event entitled “Affiliate Marketing in 2023: It’s a Match“.

Zeid Nasser, Head of Admitad Partner Network in MENA, served as on-stage host, introducing all speakers at the Affiliate Marketing conference. He also moderated a panel discussion, “Win-Win in Affiliate Marketing: Innovating Monetisation for Content and Higher Revenue Streams“, that featured such luminaries as Mohammad Fattal, Founder & CEO at Alfan, Kaushal Pilikuli, VP of both ShopCash and Loyalty, and Jugal Paryani, Director of Marketing at Tabby. 

Rashid Hammad, Affiliate Partnership Manager at Admitad MENA, and Maxim Baturin, Team Lead of Account Managers at Admitad MENA, delivered a seminar entitled “Affiliate Marketing: Latest Trends & Case Studies” in the Seminar Theatre.

Throughout the event, Mitgo’s booth welcomed more than 2000 visitors, we generated over 300 leads and, most importantly, had the opportunity to meet our existing partners and strengthen our relationships in person.

We also had tons of fun on-stage – the spotlight suits us – and we gained interest, attention and positive feedback from the live audiences.

What did we learn as exhibitors, speakers and participants at #SeamlessDXB 2023?

1. Interest in affiliate marketing is growing. Rapidly.

By opening a new, dedicated affiliate marketing section, the conference perfectly demonstrated how this field is growing within the Middle East. Our speakers’ discussions emphasised the untapped potential of affiliate marketing in the region, and audiences paid close attention to the growth opportunities that await them in MENA’s current market conditions.

2. Education within this field is still necessary

Despite this growth in interest, the market’s overall knowledge of affiliate marketing is still relatively low. By sharing the fundamentals of affiliate marketing and its application in the Middle East, offering valuable insights into best practices, successful case studies and strategies for achieving affiliate marketing success in the region, our speakers reaffirmed Admitad’s commitment to partner with event organisers like Terrapin, to educate the market and grow the partnership marketing industry.

3. The importance of localised strategies

The conference highlighted the importance of tailored strategies that cater specifically to the Middle Eastern market. A major theme discussed by speakers and experts was cultural differences and nuances – the need to focus on local consumer behaviour to create effective approaches that lead to successful campaigns within different regions.

4. A global focus on the MENA region

Networking opportunities were being forged left, right and centre – but not just between businesses within the Middle East. International attendees, including key global e-commerce and Fintech players from Europe, the USA and APAC, recognising MENA’s growth potential, flocked to the event to build new, lucrative connections.

5. It’s always great to meet partners face-to-face 

A significant part of our experience at Seamless was the chance to meet with existing partners and clients and strengthen our relationships face-to-face.

We will undoubtedly return to #Seamless2024 with more insights, case studies and solutions. Save the date: we look forward to seeing you all there next year!
Check out our time at #Seamless2023 on LinkedIn, follow us and get in touch with our team!