L'histoire de Wlidaty | Amina Tibi

Summary

Amina Tibi describes building Wlidaty, a Moroccan e-commerce platform for babies, children, and parents, and her earlier experience helping launch ICFLIX, a regional streaming service.

Her central point is that e-commerce is more than a website and catalogue. It depends on trust, logistics, customer support, purchasing, technology, and a service model that brings customers back.

Wlidaty: Finding Demand and Launching Lean

• Tibi identified a possible market gap through conversations with mothers who followed her on Instagram. They wanted children’s products and brands that were difficult to find in Morocco.
• She used her community as an informal customer-research and validation channel by asking what products customers wanted, sharing ideas, and gathering feedback before committing to a larger launch.
• She tested the concept with a small selection of products rather than building a large operation immediately. She launched on Shopify, using a template and handling the early branding, marketing, product sourcing, and business development herself.
• Wlidaty launched on December 8, 2020. The initial announcement on Instagram generated strong interest, and the small initial stock sold out quickly.
• To reduce early supplier and inventory risk, she began with small orders, sourced some products locally, and imported selected brands in limited quantities. She showed suppliers the working website to demonstrate legitimacy and initially offered to pay cash for stock.
• The name was deliberately chosen to be personal, memorable, easy to say, and recognizably Moroccan—an important consideration when marketing with limited resources.

The Value Proposition: Trust, Service, and Selection

Wlidaty positioned itself as a one-stop shop for parents, covering clothing, toys, childcare products, books, food, and other family needs across a range of price points.

Its differentiation was not simply product availability:

• Competitive pricing: Tibi aimed to avoid excessive markups, recognizing that customers could compare prices internationally or ask relatives abroad to bring products back.
• Reliable delivery: Early deliveries were handled by Tibi and family members. Later, the company developed its own delivery operation in Greater Casablanca, Rabat, and Kenitra to support same-day delivery.
• Responsive customer service: The company handles exchanges, problems, and refunds to address concerns about scams, delayed orders, or having no one to contact after purchase.
• Customer trust: Tibi sees service quality as central to overcoming skepticism about online shopping in Morocco.

Scaling the Operation

As sales demonstrated demand, Wlidaty moved beyond a small, founder-run operation:

• The company replenished stock, expanded its product range, hired staff, and moved from storing products in a small apartment to operating from a warehouse.
• Tibi and her husband relocated to Morocco in 2022 and joined the business on the ground. She focused on business development, marketing, and brand image; her husband contributed operational and technical expertise.
• The company built internal technology, including a delivery-driver app that tracks orders, provides recipient details, and helps organize delivery routes. It also extended its original Shopify setup to support operational needs.
• Tibi stressed that a functioning e-commerce business requires substantial infrastructure. Wlidaty had 70 employees, including teams for logistics, customer service, purchasing, technology, and business development.
• The company’s own delivery teams in key cities support its same-day-delivery promise. It also developed partnerships with organizations such as Glovo, banks, and Orange.

Products Made in Morocco

• From early on, Wlidaty sought to feature Moroccan-made products and give local artisans and small brands an online sales channel.
• This strategy became more prominent in 2023 amid a boycott movement. The company chose to promote local alternatives aligned with its values.
• Tibi says Wlidaty lost some high-turnover international brands but replaced them with other products and did not feel a lasting commercial impact.
• She views retailers as having influence over customer choices: when customers trust the retailer and its service, they may be willing to try a recommended substitute.

Marketing, Growth, and KPIs

• Early customer acquisition relied heavily on Tibi’s Instagram community, organic social activity, influencers, and digital channels such as Instagram, Facebook, Google, and YouTube.
• Tibi said reaching a much broader audience would likely require television, outdoor advertising, and radio—channels that demand considerably more investment.
• The company reported a 66–67% repeat-purchase rate, which Tibi described as the share of customers who buy once and then purchase again. She sees this as evidence that customers are satisfied and return after being acquired.
• Wlidaty’s next growth challenge is acquisition and reach, while maintaining its service and repeat-purchase performance.
• The stated ambition is to become Morocco’s leading e-commerce platform. The company is focused on Morocco for now, while keeping expansion elsewhere as a future possibility.
• Tibi said the business had been financed with personal funds to date and was considering the investment needed for its next phase.

ICFLIX: Go-to-Market and Adapting to Local Markets

Before Wlidaty, Tibi was the first recruit at ICFLIX and helped build its marketing function and go-to-market strategy from scratch.

• She helped establish the brand, logo, mission, vision, and marketing strategy alongside the technology team.
• A major obstacle was recurring payments: many consumers in markets such as Morocco lacked credit cards or were not accustomed to paying online by card.
• ICFLIX addressed this by partnering with regional mobile operators and bundling subscriptions into postpaid phone plans, using a payment channel customers already had.
• The company also localized its catalogue. It digitized Moroccan and other regional films and series, adding metadata and promotional materials so local content could be discovered online.
• Tibi said ICFLIX had more than 250,000 subscribers around 2015–2016.
• When Netflix announced global expansion in 2017, competition intensified. Streaming also required expensive content rights and a large recurring subscriber base to support the costs.
• ICFLIX ultimately sold its technology and technical capability to MultiChoice for use in South Africa. Tibi’s lesson was to assess the numbers and competitive requirements realistically: when competing with global platforms required more capital than the company could secure, the founders had to consider an exit rather than persist at any cost.

Frameworks and Actionable Playbooks

• Validate before scaling: Use customer conversations and community feedback to identify demand, then test with a limited product range.
• Launch an MVP: Use an accessible platform such as Shopify, basic branding, and founder-led execution before investing in custom technology.
• Prove supplier and customer trust: Demonstrate a working storefront, start with modest orders, and reduce payment friction for customers.
• Build the service behind the storefront: Plan for delivery, customer support, returns and exchanges, inventory, purchasing, and technology—not only the website.
• Localize the go-to-market: Adapt payment methods, content, and product selection to local habits and purchasing infrastructure.
• Scale after evidence of demand: Reinvest when products sell and operational needs become clear; build the warehouse, team, and delivery capability required to fulfill the promise.
• Use culture with clear accountability: Tibi favors flexibility and empathy while setting clear objectives and processes. She believes people tend to give more when treated well, but says trust can be withdrawn if someone abuses it.
• Know when to stop or sell: Evaluate the capital and economics needed to compete, distinguish perseverance from sunk-cost thinking, and consider strategic alternatives when the numbers do not support the next stage.
• Recognize the commitment entrepreneurship requires: Tibi advises founders to be realistic about the workload, barriers, and effect on personal life—and to choose a business they care about enough to persist through setbacks.

Key Figures and Timelines

• December 8, 2020: Wlidaty launched.
• 2022: Tibi and her husband relocated to Morocco to work on the business in person.
• 70 employees: Wlidaty’s reported team size.
• 66–67%: Reported repeat-purchase rate, as defined by Tibi.
• Same-day delivery: Wlidaty’s stated service promise in areas supported by its own delivery teams.
• More than 250,000 subscribers: ICFLIX’s reported subscriber count around 2015–2016.
• 2017: Netflix announced global expansion, intensifying competition for ICFLIX.

No revenue, profit, customer-acquisition-cost, or lifetime-value figures were provided.

Presenters and Sources

Amina Tibi; the Next Wave podcast host (not named in the subtitles); Next Wave.