LuLu is part of everyone’s family
abu dhabi — MA Yousuf Ali’s empire of hypermarkets has flourished across the UAE and over 10 countries, and grabbed more eyeballs and footfalls than any. The influence of one of the UAE’s most loved brands is such that a baby may forget any other word but ‘LuLu’. Hop onto car with parents and a two-year-old will have just one word to say — ‘LuLu’, a gentle reminder to his father on the destination to drive to. The chain of hypermarkets has over the years transformed into a hangout place for families and singles.
It was apt planning, robust and innovative marketing strategy that has helped LuLu get ahead of competition.
LuLu Group’s ‘major milestone’ was opening of first hypermarket in Dubai, says V Nandakumar, chief communications officer — incharge of marketing, PR and communications for the group.
“It was a turning point in LuLu’s march into the big league and, today, LuLu is much more than a shopping place. It has become a part of life of everyone.”
The secret of success is innovating according to the changing times, he said.
Marketing has seen a wave of changes over the past decade. From earlier days of shouting contest to showcase one as the best and costeffective alternative through a catalogue of offers to present day of tapping shoppers through mobile revolution, LuLu has rebranded itself time and again, says the man who has completed 17 years with the group.
“Now we have 132 hypermarkets and shopping malls across the GCC, Egypt, India and Far East in Indonesia and Malaysia. When we started, we just followed industry norms and brought out product-price booklets and four-page ad- vertisements every week or 10 days with competitive prices.”
More brand connectivity
LuLu had peaks to scale and there was a need to get out of offer and discount rat-race. And Nandakumar came up with a game-changing idea to become preferred destination for shopping — trying the electronic media.
“We didn’t just want cherrypickers. We went above the line by roping in radio and putting ads in multiple languages on TV. We were the first hypermarket chain and retailer to use these mediums. It yielded immediate results as there was more brand connectivity,” said Nandakumar, who was heading marketing and advertising at the time.
After that, many competitors followed LuLu’s success formula.The group then went to next level by trying to make shopping a fun experience.
“We refurbished our tagline — LuLu, where the world comes to shop.” This was an ambitious bid to become the “preferred shopping destination for the world, i.e., catering to the diverse nationalities staying here.”
That was when festivals with focus on countries started. What followed was Italian Festival, Spanish, Indian, Arabic and many others targeting maximum engagement.
Variety festivals click
LuLu also started interesting activities like mango festival in a bid to make grocery shopping exciting and fun. “This caught on and we had Dates Festival, Citrus Festival, Halwa Festival and others.”
These festivals gave customers a ‘new reason’ to shop. LuLu also catered to the Next Gen, who are more focused on health, organic products and like, which were not likely on the priority list of baby boomers.
“We started storing products from around the world like gluten free, sugar free and organic range.” In its bid to cut the middleman, ‘LuLu started establishing our sourcing officer everywhere’. “This helped to source products quickly as there wasn’t a need to go through suppliers and importers.” All these steps took LuLu to a range above others.
Digital age changes
LuLu easily embraced the onslaught of digital media.
“LuLu Webstore is the first fully fledged hypermarket chain, which has a biggest range of products. The online space is growing and doing good business. Going forward, we see online shopping contributing 15-20 per cent of our business. Right now it’s less than five per cent. The online focus is also brining us new shoppers — the millennials, as they maybe too busy or too lazy to come and shop. We are now looking at taking this to the next level.” Door delivery service in every area of the UAE is also in pipeline.
Will online shopping affect business at hypermarkets? “We want to spread wings and bring in more online shoppers. And online shopping is not eating into brick and mortar business. People in the UAE love shopping.”
“We are reaching new consumers who maybe spending more time on their mobile. Engagement is the key factor in social media. We need to create good video and readable content through social media. We are the retailers with highest number of followers on Facebook,” he said.
Private labels sell
LuLu also launched its own private label some 8-9 years back. “It is doing phenomenally well. It’s a substitute for a shopper looking for no-frills good products at competitive price. It keeps market under check too. Now we have 2,000 private label products,” Nandakumar said.