Majid Al Futtaim gets UAE rights for Italian furniture
DUBAI RETAIL GROUP ENTERS HOME INTERIORS WITH POLTRONA FRAU DEAL
Majid Al Futtaim’s Lifestyle division has taken on the UAE rights for Poltrona Frau, the luxury Italian furniture brand known for its leather interiors. This marks the UAE entity’s entry into the home interiors space, which has been recording some fast-track growth in recent years in sync with developments in the wider property market.
“We did not acquire the Poltrona Frau Emirates company, but took over their business,” said Fahed Ghanim, CEO, Majid Al Futtaim Lifestyle. “We acquired the showroom that they used to operate from and we carry forward with a customer base building on experience and knowledge.
“Many of the team members have joined us, they can actually continue that connection to the market. It is an acquisition in financial terms and we’ll be representing them.”
Robust standing
The Italian furniture maker has 15 flagship stores, 165 single-brand stores and around 280 multi-brand stores worldwide. According to market estimates, Poltrona Frau saw a 20 per cent growth in revenue in 2022, due to a strong increase within the brand’s residential furniture sales and a strong recovery of public projects.
A Poltrona Frau flagship showroom will open in Mall of the Emirates later this year. In addition, the brand’s existing Jumeirah store will be expanded, inspired by the Poltrona Frau Via Manzoni showroom.
Majid Al Futtaim Lifestyle now includes eight franchise brands, two homegrown brands and more than 70 stores across the GCC spanning fashion, home, multi-brand, specialty retail and beauty, as well as 18 online platforms. “Over the past five years, Majid Al Futtaim Lifestyle has refreshed its portfolio strategy and the business has hit countless milestones, including recording year-onyear, double-digit growth and registering more than $217 million in sales in 2022,” its CEO said.
Poltrona Frau, known for its work with automotive giants such as Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, is expected to anchor Majid Al Futtaim’s home division. Ghanim hinted that the retail giant is also ‘moving up’ in terms of its portfolio mix.
“They [Poltrona Frau] came to a point where they really needed a strong local partner who can understand and take the business to the next level,” said Ghanim. “And this is what we were able to quickly put this whole acquisition into motion”
One of the main reasons Poltrona Frau decided to hand over the business arm to Majid Al Futtaim is so that the retail giant really fast-track the growth of its products.
We have quadrupled the size of our company within the last four years. We are witnessing high double-digit growth and we are projecting the same this year despite the economic challenges that we all face.”
Fahed Ghanim | CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Lifestyle