Majid Al Futtaim and Lulu among top global retailers

Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) and Lulu are among the world's top 250 most powerful retailers, according to Deloitte's 'Global Power of Retailing 2021 report.

The retail giants from the UAE are the only Middle Eastern retailers to make the list. The list is led by US giants with Walmart Stores at number one, followed by Amazon, Costco Wholesale Corp, Schwarz Group, and The Kroger Co among others. According to Deloitte, $4.85 trillion is the total aggregate retail revenue generated by the top 250 retailers with 4.4 per cent composite year over year retail revenue growth.

Majid Al Futtaim Holding group revenues reached $9.57 billion, and the group posted a net retail income of $7.65 billion with CAGR retail revenue of 6.5 per cent. Lulu Group - which operates hypermarkets and superstores across 10 countries - posted $7.4 billion revenues in the financial year ending 2019, achieving a compound annual growth rate of five per cent. Lulu has 210 stores across the GCC, Egypt, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Some of the key impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on leading global retailers as per the report are essential versus non-essential retail, reduced demand, enforced store closure, and travels bans. On the other hand, online retailers have benefited from consumers aversion to in-store shopping due to the pandemic crisis. However, leading retailers were able to capitalize on the new consumer opportunities presented by the pandemic, particularly online shopping and delivery and were able to continue trading from their stores.

Since the start of the pandemic, Lulu group opened 26 new hypermarkets and supermarkets, including four e-commerce fulfillment centers across the region.

“No doubt, these are very challenging times and we had to delay our expansion plans last year due to lockdowns and Covid-19 restrictions, but now we are fully back on track to open 30 new hypermarkets and 10 e-commerce fulfillment centres in the GCC, Egypt and the Far East by the end of this year. Expo 2020 Dubai coupled with fast improving health & safety situation is sure to boost the market sentiments sooner than later," said Yusuffali MA, chairman of Lulu Group.

rohma@khaleejtimes.com