Retail and Foodservice Attractiveness in the Uae

The UAE retail market is quiet big, with a lot of different retailer chains. The retailer industry is growing and there is a trend to hypermarkets and shopping malls . After having a look at the 30 leading retailers in the Middle East and South Africa the following three groups and retailer chains seemed to be the most attractive ones, Abu Dhabi Co-operative society, Carrefour UAE and Emke Group. After evaluating each chain it became clear, that these retailers do not differ too much from each other. But most distinctive differences are the following. Abu Dhabi Co-operative society is limited with 10 stores only in Abu Dabhi. Emke group has ventured over the years in varied business field all over the ME. Lulu supermarket is one example of these businesses. All in all they do have 32% of the total retail market share within the GCC. The last retailer is Carrefour UAE , which is a joint venture company by Majid al Futtaim and Carrefour France. This European connection could be of help for IFF. The dynamic and fast-moving hypermarket chain has 10 stores spread over the UAE. It is expected that Carrefour will be the third largest retailer chain in ME and South Africa in 2012 . A negative aspect about Carrefour is the massive buying power they have, especially for a small company as IFF which is new in the ME market. Considering all aspects the conclusion is that Carrefour UAE is the most attractive retailer for IFF in the UAE.

Besides the oil industry in the UAE, that region/country also affords a growing tourism industry since the last decades. In regard to Dubai, the UAE has even the highest growing tourism market in the Middle East. The number of 290 hotels, which existed already in 2005, shows high market attractiveness. In 2006 Dubai was a travel destination for 6.2 million visitors, whereby 1.94 visitors were from Europe. Furthermore the fact that the hotel-room capacity will duplicate until 2010, indicates not only a high demand for IFF’s products at the