Transforming Supply for Mini-Marts in Jordan: A Game Changer!
In the quiet suburbs of Amman, Ibrahim’s mini-mart (Doukan) has always been a familiar stop for neighbors. But behind the counter, Ibrahim wrestled with challenges that weighed heavily on his small business. He spent hours chasing down suppliers, negotiating high prices, and managing inconsistent deliveries. At times, he had to close his mini-mart to secure stock. Shelves were often half-empty, customers left unsatisfied, and revenue barely covered expenses.
Ibrahim’s struggle is shared by thousands of mini-mart owners across Jordan. Small grocery stores are at the heart of communities, yet they operate in a fragmented supply chain that keeps them at a disadvantage. “Suppliers insist on ordering large quantities; their products do not offer the diversity my customers ask for; and logistically, I find it challenging to pick my supplies from the wholesale markets due to transportation cost and time constraints. Filling my mini-mart shelves with attractive and competitive items has been a daunting task, and frequent customers stopped visiting my shop,” Ibrahim said, voicing the concerns of many other mini-mart owners, as this has been a systemic market dysfunction that affects the entire sector.
To address this, the Informal Livelihoods Advancements Activity (Iqlaa), funded through the American Embassy in Amman, partnered with Yaseer, a digital business-to-business marketplace designed to transform how small stores source their goods. Through a simple mobile app, Yaseer connects mini-marts directly with suppliers of fast-moving consumer goods, such as canned food, beverages, and cleaning materials. Instead of working with multiple mediators, mini-mart owners like Ibrahim can now easily access supplies at competitive prices and receive next-day free delivery. Yaseer also introduced cash back and referral bonuses, which help mini-marts save more while encouraging others to subscribe.
The change was immediate! Ibrahim no longer spends his mornings chasing suppliers. With a few taps on his phone in the comfort of his home, his shelves are restocked, and his customers started returning. His profits are growing steadily due to the competitive prices he offers. Many, like Ibrahim, who use the Yaseer app, can get real-time insights about the demand for specific products in their areas. They can also order small quantities of goods, which helps control storage space and avoid freezing up cash flow. Ease of doing business has tremendously improved for them.
I’m happy that my mini-mart has better quality products. I now have imported products I never thought I would have or sell.
Ibrahim, Store owner
In partnership with Iqlaa, Yaseer intends to reach 1,000 additional mini-marts in Amman and Zarqa, offering mini-mart owners across the two cities better chances to thrive.
What makes this transformation different is the market systems development approach that Iqlaa adopts. Instead of offering mini-mart owners short-term grants or subsidies, Iqlaa works at a market system level, which promotes sustainable and scalable impact. By partnering with a key market player in the retail sector, Iqlaa aims to strengthen Yaseer’s capacity, support its geographical expansion, and help introduce innovations that would help mini-marts access essential business inputs. Yaseer’s improved capacity and systems allowed it to expand beyond Amman to Zarqa, Irbid, and Madaba governorates, and they plan to reach more areas soon.
The changes brought by such partnerships continue because market actors own and drive them. Yaseer operates as a growing private business model, which means the benefits for mini-mart owners are not tied to donor funding but are embedded in the market.
With services such as Yaseer’s, more mini-marts across Jordan are set to benefit as the model expands and inspires replication. Other retail and service digital platforms are already beginning to adopt similar practices, creating healthy competition and stronger supply chains. Suppliers are also benefiting from this market change; they do not have to deliver to scattered mini-marts anymore, as their central delivery hub is the Yaseer warehouses. While it was not feasible for them earlier to sell small quantities to smaller marts, they can now do so, access untapped markets in remote areas, and promote their products through Yaseer’s app.
Iqlaa is following this approach to enable a stronger ecosystem for small businesses and help them face many other challenges, such as access to markets, logistics and finance.