JEDDAH – Home Centre, the largest home retailer in the Middle East, kicked off its milestone 20th anniversary celebrations by unveiling plans to expand its regional presence through the addition of over 50 new stores over the next five years, adding 20 new stores in Saudi Arabia alone. Médéric Payne, CEO of Home Centre, said “customers in the kingdom are increasingly very savvy. They spend time researching the options before making a purchase decision. In recent years, they have shown a preference for browsing online to see what the top trends are – our website has created a showcase of our collections in the past and we aim to explore offering more on our online shopping platform to cater to this rising demand.” He observed that the urban home scene is expanding within the Kingdom, opening up more room for versatile and innovative furniture to be incorporated into the collection, noting that modular furniture and intelligent storage solutions are gradually being introduced into the collection as the demand for them continues to develop. Hence, “in order to increase customer engagement, the content in the annual catalogue and the seasonal brochures all reflect warmly on the culture of the region and employ a more personalized approach,” Payne further said. “Initiatives such as the Room Makeover and the Share a Table initiative allow the brand to connect with their customers across the region,” he added. The Dubai-headquartered brand has grown from a single store opened in Sharjah in 1995 into an international network of nearly 90 stores spread across 10 countries and occupying a total space of 4 million sq. feet. The brand recently shared its business highlights and future growth strategy at a press briefing hosted to commemorate the 20th-year milestone. Attributing its leading status to the versatile product offering, affordable pricing and customer-centric approach that have been the cornerstones of its business strategy, Payne announced the brand's plans to invest more than AED1 billion over the next five years to strengthen its presence across the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. Home Centre will also remodel over 40 existing stores in the region, fortify its existing supply chain and enhance its warehouse infrastructure. While continuing to strengthen its existing market presence, Home Centre will also explore expansion opportunities in countries such as Kazakhstan, Morocco, Kenya, Algeria and Angola, both through organic growth and new franchise operations. The brand's projected expansion will create around 3,000 additional job opportunities by 2020. Payne moreover said a large young population with a strong female consumer base is driving our business in Saudi Arabia. “We see a number of women shopping at our stores looking for quality products with a contemporary look and feel,” he said. Another factor boosting this industry is the steadily expanding population base of brand-conscious consumers. “Our stores provide these young brand-conscious consumers fresh designs and a wide selection of products to choose from with an easy in-store shopping experience,” he added. “All these factors have led to positive growth for Home Centre in the recent past. Over the last 20 years, Home Centre's success has come from providing customers with exceptional value, great customer service and unique home furnishing and accessories,” Payne remarked. Besides, Home Centre, as the leading retail brand in the market, “constantly monitors our customer's preferences to gain insight on what our upcoming strategies will be. Competition continues to drive us and we believe that to maintain a leading position, we have to challenge ourselves and others. With that in mind, we have taken significant steps to cater more comprehensively to our customers.” Payne noted, for instance, that “our latest collection has been revamped to cater to the elegant tastes of the region, with coordinated living, dining and bedroom sets for all styles and personalities. In the next five years, we will introduce new categories, a lifestyle range of storage solutions and modular furniture – to offer our customers a wider range of products and services.” “Moreover, we remain committed to our customers and will continue to invest and build in this relationship for many years to come,” he underlined. In a bid to adapt to evolving customer needs, Home Centre aims to introduce a wider offering over the next five years to include a range of innovative products, a lifestyle range of home storage options, modular furniture concepts, as well as completely new product categories. Payne said: “Twenty years marks a significant milestone for a home-grown brand like ours that has today evolved to become the region's preferred home shopping destination. We started with a vision to provide customers with high quality products at affordable prices and today two decades later, customer satisfaction continues to remain a prime focus for us.” “In our endeavor to extend an exceptional brand experience, we ensure that our product range is aligned with global trends, while continuing to cater to our diverse local customer base as well. We also routinely reformat our store design and enhance our customer service experience in line with new technology and changing trends that sweep the home retail market,” he continued. Moreover, “we have ambitious plans for Home Centre in the next five years. We will increase our store count and retail footprint by 50%, while venturing into new markets. This expansion will fuel Home Centre's next phase of growth.” In the last two decades, Home Centre has invested in building strong and enduring relationships with its customers. More than 80% of Home Centre customers are reported to be loyal to the brand, with studies indicating that on an average, a Home Centre Shukran member visits one of the brand's stores at least three times a year. Home Centre has been consistently ranked among the top 50 brands in the Middle East Global Brand Simplicity Index. In addition to this accolade, it maintained its Superbrand status for three consecutive years in the UAE (2010-12), as well as once each in Kuwait (2010) and in Jordan (2012). — SG
