india independence LULU HYPERMARKET
Quality and Variety Juzer Rupawala, Lulu regional director, explains the secrets of the brand’s success. Please tell us a little about the history of the brand, when was Lulu first established and when did the first store open in Bahrain? Lulu Hypermarket is the flagship of the Lulu Group, established in 2000; prior to that the roots of the enterprise can be traced to the bold business leadership of our managing director Mr Yusuffali who entered the retail industry during the mid 1990s. The brand vision was laid down by him right at the beginning, he wanted to build a global retail brand delivering the finest shopping experience in terms of quality, pricing, variety and also as an immersive shopping experience that is multi-dimensional. We have taken that vision as our template and built a brand that is innovative and rooted in offering the best to our customers. Our international festivals, which celebrate the culture and products of different countries, our food shows and our promotions bind the community to us and give our customers an opportunity to experience a different dimension of shopping. In Bahrain, Lulu Hypermarket opened its first store in 2007. How many stores are there across the region? There are 117 stores across the MENA region — and four already in Bahrain.
Lulu is known for supplying a wide range of multi-national products. How does your stocking system operate? Lulu Hypermaket’s USP is the unmatched range of goods in our stores, we have a very efficient central buying unit with state-of-the-art purchasing, logistics and warehousing operations. For example, our 20,000sq/ft Birmingham (UK) logistics facility procures and exports food, non-food, chilled and frozen products from around the world. Lulu Hypermarket imports over 6,000 products from more than 1,000 well-known brands. We use our purchasing power to offer an unmatched price advantage to our customers. We are constantly adding to our portfolio of products and reviewing the popularity of products to bring customers what they need. That is why we proudly own our tag line “Where the world comes to shop”. There has been expansion in recent years in Bahrain, how many stores are there now in the Kingdom? Lulu Hypermarket’s first store was established in Manama’s Dana Mall in 2007; since then we have grown rapidly and by 2011, there were four Lulu stores in the Kingdom — one in Riffa, another in A’ali in Ramli Mall, which is also part of the Lulu Group, and the last in Hidd.
How do you ensure staff are kept abreast of developments in areas such as food hygiene at one end of the spectrum and computer sales at the other? Throughout our chain, our group invests intensively in HR, in training and in putting in place the necessary international certification to ensure a world-class operation run by a world-class team. This helps inspire our staff to keep abreast of the latest trends and practices in the retailing business. For example, in our fresh foods sections, team members are up to speed with the HAACCP certification that deals with industrial food hygiene. What other plans are there for the future such as promotions or introducing new departments to the stores? We have a rich tradition of innovative promotions that bring alive different themes and aspects of the brand promise and shopping experience. Our efforts extend beyond just picking up groceries or school supplies and transform shopping into a lifestyle experience. For instance, Lulu Hypermarket underscores its vibrant fashion department with interactive beauty and fashion shows, something Bahrain customers had never seen before. We shall continue to nurture a lively calendar of promotions to showcase the Lulu portfolio. Juzer Rupawala
62 August 2015
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