E-commerce platform Noon.com said its seven-day Yellow Friday Sale – its biggest till date – will start on November 23.
The sale will offer discounts up to 70 per cent and present thousands of brands offering the largest range of deals ever, the Riyadh-based e-commerce platform said on Thursday.
“We are the local digital marketplace, born to serve and support customers and businesses in the region,” said Maya El Ayach, senior vice president of growth and digital strategy at Noon.
“Yellow Friday Sale is a time of [the] year we all look forward to,” she added.
During the build-up to the Yellow Friday Sale, Noon will also offer countdown deals and a huge 11/11 sale on November 11, the company said.
Noon, which was founded in 2017, operates in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt.
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a shift in shopping habits globally and in the Middle East, with many consumers now opting to shop online.
The size of the e-commerce market in the Mena region is expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 28 per cent to $28.5 billion by 2022, up from $8.3bn in 2017, according to a joint study by Google and Bain & Company.
The Yellow Friday sale will offer discounts from the platform's growing portfolio of retail partners, including local small-and medium-enterprises.
“This year has been tough for local businesses in particular. Through noon they can connect with customers, generate revenue and join a global retail event right here in the region,” Kaushik Mukherjee, senior vice president of customer and seller excellence at Noon, said.
Customers using the Mashreq noon VIP Visa credit card will receive 3.5 per cent cashback on all purchases, while customers using a Visa debit or credit card will receive 15 per cent off their cart value.
Customers already in the noon VIP loyalty programme will enjoy extra cashback, Noon said.
Noon said nearly 10,000 yellow vans will be on the roads in November to ensure timely delivery.
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
- 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
25 staff on site
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
