The Middle East’s artist economy has been disrupted by the establishment of a new online marketplace located in the UAE. Amna Aijaz, Haroon Tahir, and Arafaat Ali Khan created POPC with a love of pop culture and a desire to enable local artists to properly market their work on a variety of goods.
They have a combined expertise of more than 40 years in e-commerce, marketing, design, popular culture, and customer service.
The idea for the venture came to Aijaz, the company’s chief art officer, during the coronavirus pandemic when she discovered that local artists like herself did not have a year-round platform to display and sell their work.
While yearly pop culture gatherings like the Middle East Film and Comic Con, which POPC co-founder Ali Khan originally brought to the UAE, are beneficial, they often only last a few days each year, leaving artists to fend for themselves the rest of the time.
Creators have the ability to sell their goods through free storefronts within the marketplace, with the platform taking care of all aspects of production and shipping.
Tahir, a marketing and communications specialist, claimed that POPC was superior to other online artist markets due to a number of variables, including the fact that artist commissions were typically greater than usual.
“The issue with worldwide marketplaces that we observed was the requirement for a US, UK, or global bank account as well as a global shipping address in order to be able to sell, which was a major disadvantage for all the artists that we were speaking to.
By the conclusion of the first quarter, the company’s major priority for this year is to serve the entire Middle East region.
One of the first Arabic readers in the region, Tahir continued, “We’re also working on an Arabic comic book reader that will feature some very fantastic titles, including some manga studios that I can’t quite announce yet.