BUSINESS GROWTH LuLu to go ahead with Saudi expansion plans
Regional retailer LuLu Group has revealed that it is going ahead with its expansion plans in Saudi Arabia despite the challenges faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic across the world. The group will open five new hypermarkets this year in the Kingdom.
Currently there are 34 LuLu hypermarkets and supermarkets, including 17 commissaries in Aramco and Petroleum Research Center, five outlets on the Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG) campus, and four shopping malls in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Alkhobar regions, in addition to other hypermarkets — serving more than 250,000 customers daily.
Jubail and Tabuk, which have witnessed exponential growth. With the completion of these five new projects, our aim is to provide employment to 1,000 more Saudi nationals, in addition to 2,800 already employed by us, including more than 1,000 ladies.”
He added: “As per our plans, three hypermarkets were supposed to be opened, but we had to postpone the inauguration due to the global pandemic situation. Now that the restrictions have been lifted and with resumption of normal activities, we have decided to go ahead and launch new hypermarkets on a priority basis.” As part of it’s commitment to supporting and promoting the Kingdom’s non-oil based trade, LuLu has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture and Saudi Export Development Authority to promote Saudi dates and local products outside the Kingdom in Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Egypt and the GCC countries.
Another focus area, Ali said, is the expansion of LuLu’s online shopping services to cover a wider range of grocery items and fresh produce.
“Thanks to the visionary leadership of the Kingdom, the pandemic situation has been controlled very well and various sectors including the retail, tourism and other trade activities are returning to normal and this will further accelerate the national economy.
We are proud to be part of the Kingdom’s overall development and will continue to support sustainable development strategies.” During the lockdown period, the role played by leading hypermarkets and supermarket chains such as LuLu has been highly commendable, as they successfully maintained the uninterrupted supply of food from around the world at affordable prices, ensuring that there was no panic situation in the Kingdom.