America’s Premier Halal Online Marketplace

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food & beverages but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Mohamad Saad, Founder of HalalWorldDepot, located in Dearborn, MI, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Hello, my name is Mohamad Saad, and I am one of the founders of HalalWorldDepot, America’s premier Halal online marketplace. The company started three years ago as a meat and grocery delivery service and slowly grew into a full-blown online marketplace offering a wide range of Halal products.

I am a user experience software designer and spend a lot of time making sure the website is straightforward to use for the consumer. With many products added to the site, from Halal cosmetics to Halal vitamins and meats, it can be challenging to make everything visible, not crowded, and easy to find.

With a simple goal of getting as many Halal items listed, we also focus on building a community of Muslims around the United States to connect and come together. A home formed on a website where all can feel welcomed and comfortable shopping and finding the products they need.

Tell us about yourself

The website was the main focus when we were preparing for launch. There were a lot of products, most of which had no photos online. I was still in high school at the time and would go to my father’s store after school and take pictures of the products we needed to list. I would then edit the images with Canva during my lunchtime. Many teachers in school did not believe in HalalWorldDepot, and many friends/family members didn’t either. Most large food companies that were getting into home delivery services published articles saying that it doesn’t work. We knew that this wasn’t ultimately true and that we were in a different niche than most other food companies. My brother-in-law and I kept our heads down and pursued the idea. We knew that there were people out there who needed Halal products.

I used a basic Shopify template to launch but quickly moved into a purchased theme from Themeforest, which you can view an image of below. The website wasn’t all that, but it still got the job done. I would hire freelancers on Fiverr to custom code ideas that I’d think would make the website easier to use. There were many trials and errors, but more and more people began to adopt the website at the end of the day. The next significant factor beyond the website was the packaging of the fresh-cut meats. A lot of research made sure that the perishables were in a safe condition during transit. We needed to vacuum-seal the meats in portioned bags that were easy to open for the customer and also needed a box that would keep the items at a safe temperature.

My brother-in-law’s mother has a medical office that receives vaccine shipments regularly, and when I was passing by, I noticed how the medical companies would ship their vaccines. They were shipped with gel ice packs and styrofoam boxes. We took this concept and applied it to our shipments, and it worked perfectly. We used this method of shipping for a while before we became more environmentally friendly.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Retaining customers doesn’t just rely on the fact that the site offers good products or services. It relies heavily on how you treat your customers. Letting them know that they are valued and the issues they are experiencing is something that the company takes seriously. We have made sure to always go the extra mile and let our customers know that they are cared for and have a safe place to turn to if any inconveniences are faced.

Excellent customer service combined with high-quality packaging, sustainable products, and an easy-to-use website has led us to a steady customer return rate of fifty to sixty percent. Once we started to build our customer base, we had a foundation that HalalWorldDepot could build upon. From transparency to good reviews, the website lets new consumers identify trustworthiness and faithfulness in the company.

Sales channels like Amazon and eBay can be great resources for companies to get sales. But the catch with these sites is the fees that they charge. I initially used Amazon and eBay to sell primary non-perishable products, but I stopped using them because I knew the products we were offering were not easy to find. I didn’t want these marketplaces to get the credit for the hard-to-find products that we could offer. Realizing this, I pulled all our products off these websites and solely focused on getting customers to rely on our site instead of others. It was at this point that HalalWorldDepot started to become a marketplace of its own.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

When getting into e-commerce, especially perishable shipping, things can get costly. The prices of shipping supplies and shipping rates fluctuate month over month. I was seventeen years old when I started this company and did not have experience in running reports for profitability. At times, we were not profitable from simply not seeing how much supplies were going up.

Now we run expense reports every month to see what we need to improve on and where we stand after accounting for the total expenses for that month. When running a business, every penny counts. Even if you’re saving a dollar in some places, it adds up and could potentially be used to help the company expand if spent right.

One of the biggest things I have learned in business is not to trust people easily. A great example of this is my account rep from UPS. He was very kind and seemed like he had my back. He would always say my account was looking great and that new contracts were coming into play to improve rates. I would take his word for it and didn’t sweat it. During the height of the pandemic, it was hard to manage everything since things were very hectic.

One day we were looking at invoices to pay our vendors, and the amount owed to them was much more than the amount we had in our bank account. We were mind-boggled and thought that the company might not be profitable at all, which would eventually mean we wouldn’t be able to continue. After looking deeper into this, we realized that debits from UPS were extremely large and did not make sense whatsoever. After requesting and looking through their invoices, we realized that they were double charging us on every package due to weight adjustments.
My account rep never advised me on this and left us in a thirty-five thousand dollar pit of debt owed back to UPS. After speaking with my account rep, he was going to work for another company.

So it was now up to us to make sure this money came back to our account. Never trust large companies, people, and corporations. They may seem like they have your back when in reality, they always have their best interest in mind. It would be best if you remembered to be selfish when it comes to them. A business’s money is its life supply, and once that is taken away, the company will eventually die.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

The number one thing I can tell you is to start. Whatever idea you have in mind, take it and start. Many people will doubt you and not believe in it, but you need to learn to tune them out and focus on yourself. As long as you believe in a vision and can see it in your mind, it can become a reality. Almost every large company out there started without an audience and with many disbelievers, but the one thing most CEOs say is that they kept their heads down and stuck to their vision until it became true.

Consistency is key. You won’t see results right away when it comes to owning a business. When starting a company, you will face a lot of hard work. Seventeen-hour workdays without getting paid a dime, and you will have to do it again the next day. It isn’t all about the money. It is about the cause and effect the business could potentially have in people’s lives. The money comes later. Innovation is why the world needs entrepreneurs. We have the drive to change the world to make it a more efficient and better place. If you keep that mindset, your dream will empower you to keep going.

Stop telling your vision to small-minded people. The validation you are looking for won’t come from others but will come from yourself. Working hard, putting hours in, and achieving goals will show for themselves. There is nothing to prove to anyone other than yourself and the purpose of the business. Most people won’t see your vision and won’t understand it. The dreams of having a beautiful home, nice cars, private jets, and giant yachts can all be true, but no one is going to make that happen for you. Only you have the power to take control of your mind and life.

My all-time favorite book that has stuck with me is Start With Why by Simon Sinek. It helps you find the “why” of your business and teaches valuable lessons from large companies like Apple and Microsoft. Another great book is Millionaire Success Habits by Dean Graziosi. I am not a big fan of his videos, but this book did provide helpful strategies to use in both life and business. The book offers many exercises that you can implement yourself, and a lot of them opened my mind up to different points of view to look from.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.halalworlddepot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HalalWorldDepot/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/halalworlddepot/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohamad-saad-4b5302188/

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