Lulu named fastest growing retailer

Two UAE-based retailers — Emke Group and Landmark Group — have been named amongst the world’s fastest 50 growing retail chains by auditing and research firm Deloitte.
Emke Group, which operates the region’s largest retail chain Lulu Hypermarkets is the world’s 9th fastest growing retail chain, while Landmark Group has been named as the 16th fastest retailer in the world. They are trailing Amazon.com and Apple Inc. — ranked 7th and 8th fastest growing retailer brands in the world, respectively.
“Retail revenue for the 50 fastest-growing retailers increased at a compound annual rate of 22 percent between 2006 and 2011,” Ira Kalish, author of the report, says.
“While the fastest 50 is based on revenue growth over a five-year period, most of the retailers on the list maintained their aggressive growth.”
Global Powers of Retailing 2013, a benchmark report released recently, also named these two UAE-based retailers amongst the world’s top 250 retail groups for the first time.
“The region’s retail sector has displayed strong resilience in the face of global economic downturn and is expected to continue to grow at a steady pace given its attractiveness to tourists and residents in terms of geographic location, developed logistics and availability of diverse and quality shopping options,” Mahboob Murshed, managing director, Alpen Capital, said.
Commenting on this achievement, Yusuff Ali MA said: “Last 4-5 years have been very positive for us. In fact in this period, we opened 30 hypermarkets and malls across the region and recorded a sales growth of $ 4.25 billion from $ 2. 7 billion with compound annual growth rate of 30.5 percent. “
He added: Currently, we have 104 stores across the region and this year we intend to open another 12 hypermarkets including the first one in India. This will generate additional employment opportunities of over 4,500. We are also exploring new growth opportunities in Egypt, Iraq and countries in the Far East especially in Malaysia and Indonesia. At, present the group’s total strength is 30,000 from 29 nationalities.”