Category Archives: #egypt
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Aeropostale to launch in Thailand and Egypt
Aeropostale Inc. ARO, +16.66% the mall-based apparel retailer, said it signed two licensing agreements that will launch new stores in Thailand and Egypt. The deal with Robinson Department Store Public Company will open about 40 standalone and store-within-a-store locations in Thailand over the next five years. The first store will open in the Robinson Department Store in Sriracha. The agreement with Q and A Retail Company will open approxiamately 40 standalone stores over the next five years in Egypt. The store openings will begin in early 2016. Aeropostale shares are down 71.1% for the year so far. The S&P is up 2.2% for the same period.
Egypt’s richest man snaps up 6% stake in Adidas
Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris has raised his stake in Adidas to 6 percent, making him the biggest shareholder in the German sportswear retailer.
A statement from the Stuttgart bourse said one of Sawiris’ investment vehicles, NNS Holding, now owns 4.3 percent in Adidas, while Sawiris himself holds a direct 1.7 percent stake, according to reports from Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal.
The disclosure is required after an investor crosses a 5 percent threshold in a listed company.
Sawiris is now Adidas’ biggest shareholder, followed by funds managed by BlackRock Inc and Mason Hawkins’ Southeastern Asset Management Inc.
Nassef Sawiris is Egypt’s richest person with a net worth of $5.5 billion, according to Forbes.
He also runs Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), the Egyptian subsidiary of Dutch company OCI NV, and last year set up a private equity fund, Nile Holdings Investments (NHI), which targets buyout opportunities in Egypt.
Adidas’s shares have risen 41 percent this year, contrasting with 2014 when stock fell 38 percent. Its spokesman Jan Runau told Bloomberg Adidas “has a constructive dialogue with current and potential investors and welcomes every new shareholder.”
Insights: Top 10 retail predictions for 2015
Framingham, Mass. — By 2017, three times as many retailers as now will explicitly underpin their customer and operations strategies on 3rd platform technologies. That’s one of IDC Retail Insights’ top 10 worldwide retail predictions for 2015. IDC revealed the predictions during a Web conference, IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Retail Agenda 2015 Predictions.
The top 10 predictions from the IDC FutureScape for Worldwide Retail FutureScape are:
1. By 2017, three times as many retailers as now will explicitly pin their customer and operations strategies on 3rd platform technologies.
2. In 2015, CIOs will invest in omni-channel integration technologies as a top priority to support growth in the omni-channel shopper sales premium of 30%.
3. Over the next three years, half of CIOs across the top 250 retailers will adopt omni-channel IT governance fit for a 3rd platform era to combat shadow IT.
4. By 2016, the top 150 retailers will improve their return on investment (ROI) on hyper-personal loyalty based on unified customer engagement.
5. By 2018, 60% of omni-channel retailers will have launched customer mobile payment initiatives to enhance existing ecommerce, loyalty, and in-store mobile point of sale (MPOS) investments.
6. As cyber attacks increase, 50% of the top 250 retailers will have reduced exposure and loss by more than 50% by the end of 2016 with intelligent sense and respond security strategies.
7. By the end 2016, product intelligence (PI) will inform 80% of the top ten e-commerce retailers’ pricing decisions and drive mainstream adoption of high-velocity pricing.
8. By 2018, on demand socially networked delivery services (including Uber, EBay Now, Shutl, Deliv, Postmates, Instacart, Amazon, and Alibaba) will perform 90% of all intra-day direct-to-consumer deliveries.
9. By the end of 2015, at least 25 retailers with location-based services will increase same shopper sales impacted by location-based services (LBS) by 5% via analytics-driven agile engagement and operations.
10. By 2016, even as private brand growth flattens in the U.S., consumer driven private brand product innovation will drive a 10% improvement in customer visit frequency.
“Relentless technology innovation underpins consumers’ participatory behavior and expectations,” said Leslie Hand, VP of IDC Retail Insights. “The most successful retailers will find opportunities by putting mobility, analytics, cloud, and social to work in their customer and operations strategies, adopting omni-channel integration technologies and IT governance, unifying customer engagement for hyper-personalized loyalty, adopting product intelligence for marketing and competitive insight, employing location-based services via analytics driven agile engagement and operations, utilize socially-networked on-demand delivery services, and gain share with private label merchandise.”
The ‘best-performing’ retail CEOs in the world
While retail can get swept up in the newest cross-channel strategy and payment technologies, it’s a company’s long-term vision that ultimately determines longevity in this sometimes volatile sector.
Harvard Business Review recently released its annual list of the 100 best-performing CEOs in the world, assessing the heads of companies in the S&P Global 1200 by the end of 2013. A group of researchers determined the increase in total shareholder return and market capitalization for each CEO’s tenure. Eight retail CEOs made the cut, with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos taking the top spot.
Who else made the list? Read on to find out.
Jeff Bezos
Company: Amazon
Rank: 1
Bezos long-term performance nabbed him the top spot on the list, and the distinction as the only retail CEO in the top ten. Despite ongoing disputes with publishers and a net loss in Q3, Bezos’ strategic vision for Amazon has consistently provided shareholders with results.
Tadashi Yanai
Company: Fast Retailing
Rank: 11
As Asia’s largest apparel company, Fast Retailing is now looking to expand to the United States with new locations for its Uniqlo brand. It doesn’t stop there: Founder and CEO Yanai has widely expressed his desire to surpass H&M and Inditex (owner of Zara) as the largest clothing company in the world.
Michael Balmuth
Company: Ross Stores
Rank: 25
As CEO of Ross Stores for 16 years, Balmuth stepped down from the chief executive spot this June. He is still actively involved with the company as executive chairman, and will no doubt have a hand in the opening of 95 new Ross Dress for Less and dd’s Discounts stores.
Simon Wolfson
Company: Next
Rank: 43
Although less of a name in the U.S., Simon Wolfson took the top dog spot at British retailer Next in 2001 after starting at the company in 1991 as a sales assistant. Since then, he has helped the retailer expand its Next Home business and Next Directory online catalog, yielding over-performing share prices that have topped competitors like Marks & Spencer.
Carol Mayrowitz
Company: TJX
Rank: 51
One of only two women on the list, Mayrowitz became CEO of TJX, parent company of T.J. Maxx, Homegoods and Marshalls, in 2007. Since then, the company’s revenue has increased from $16 billion in 2007 to $27 billion in 2013. But the growth doesn’t stop there. TJX plans to expand its store base by 50%, with upwards of 5,000 new stores in existing markets.
Blake Nordstrom
Company: Nordstrom
Rank: 54 (tie)
Part of the fourth generation of Nordstrom family leadership, CEO Blake Nordstrom has been with the company since 1975 in various management and sales positions. The company continues to be a favorite for its customer service, and will continue to expand that service via text with the help of Twilio.
Terry Lundgren
Company: Macy’s
Rank: 66 (tie)
Even with the loss of the title of president in March, Lundgren still holds the positions of chairman, CEO, and chief customer officer at Macy’s, Inc. Previously CEO of Neiman Marcus, Lundgren has led Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s through many onmichannel initiatives that have helped the retailer increase sales and profits.
Michael Kowalaski
Company: Tiffany & Company
Rank: 92
Kowalaski has been with the iconic Tiffany & Co. since 1983, taking the title of CEO in 1999. He will step down March 31, 2015, to be replaced by Frederic Cumenal, currently president of the jewelry retailer.
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Selfridges was named ‘Best Department Store in the World’
New York — The United Kingdom’s Selfridges was named ‘Best Department Store in the World’ for the third consecutive time by the Intercontinental Group of Department Stores (IGDS).
The award was given at the group’s Global Department Store Summit, which was held last week. The event is held every other year.
Selfridges was in competition for the award with Macy’s and the German retailer, Breuninger.
“We are thrilled that Selfridges has again been recognized as the best department store in the world,” said Anne Pitcher, managing director of Selfridges & Co. “We have had a terrific couple of years since last winning, and it is a tribute to the commitment of our teams that we have been honored with the award again this year. It gives us even greater impetus to continue to exceed our customers’ expectations and deliver to them a unique and extraordinary shopping experience.”
IGDS is the largest association of department stores world.From ChainStoreAge.com
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Toys “R” Us opens big and wide in Cairo
Toys “R” Us has opened its flagship store in Egypt at the just opened Cairo Festival City. With this, the Al-Futtaim group company now has four stores in Egypt and 17 across the region.
“The new store will offer a unique and unrivalled toy shopping experience for kids and parents,” said Sam Ghori, general manager of Toys “R” Us. The retailer also invited kids from Awlady orphanage to join the festivities, as two children from the institute also inaugurated the new store by cutting the ribbon.
“We are confident that the opening of the new store will be a huge draw for families wishing to pamper their little ones with their favourite toys,” said Ghori.
UAE’s Al Futtaim opens new shopping mall in Cairo
UAE-based conglomerate Al Futtaim Group has announced the official opening of its Cairo Festival City Mall project.
Cairo Festival City is a 3 million sq m development by Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate (AFGRE), a unit of Al-Futtaim Group.
Al-Futtaim vice chairman Omar Al Futtaim said that when fully complete the mall will offer more than 300 retail stores and 95 restaurants and cafes.
The opening was hailed as a landmark occasion for Egypt and as a reference point that foreign investor confidence in Egypt’s potential “remains as strong as ever” despite recent unrest.
“Retail is a key component of Egypt’s economy and the opening of Cairo Festival City Mall is a tangible proof that foreign investors’ confidence in the prospects of Cairo’s revival is unwavering,” said Al-Futtaim. “Especially GCC investor sentiment towards Egypt is very strong,” he added.
Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jabber, UAE Minister of State who was also at the official opening, added: “On this occasion, I would like to congratulate Al Futtaim Group and the Egyptian community for the opening of this integrated centre which is a distinct model of urban developments and trade, as it reflects the big investment opportunities in the Egyptian market, and the quality of the UAE’s business community.
“We look for more Gulf projects which contribute in improving the economic growth, and realise the benefit and interest for all parties, through upgrading the level of available services, as well as providing more opportunities for manpower.”
The Minister said that the opening of Cairo Festival City Mall was a testament to GCC investors’ interest in general, and UAE in particular, in the Egyptian market.
Cairo super mall to open after years of delay
Cairo Festival City Mall, a 168,000-square metre shopping centre, is set to finally open its doors for the first time today as a wave of new super malls is expected to hit the troubled Egyptian market.
The long awaited mall, developed by Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate Egypt, part of the Dubai-based Al-Futtaim Group, had originally been scheduled to open by the end of 2010, but was delayed by a land dispute and political instability.
A company spokesman said that 80 per cent of the available space had been leased, although the number of stores expected to open today is likely to be far fewer.
The mall includes Egypt’s first Ikea store, a 10,755-square metre Carrefour hypermarket, the region’s largest Kidzania education and entertainment centre, the country’s largest Marks & Spencer store, and more than 300 other stores and 95 restaurants.
Located on the east side of the ring road in Greater Cairo, Al-Futtaim said it had a catchment area of more than 8 million potential customers.
“This week sees the culmination of years of planning and hard work,” said Mohammed ElMikawi, the managing director of Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate Egypt. “Cairo Festival City Mall’s full offering will come online by next April.”
Cairo Festival City is the first of a wave of new shopping centres being built in the Greater Cairo area despite the ongoing political unrest.
Another 389,000 sq metres of lettable shopping space is set to join the market next year – a space slightly larger than that of The Dubai Mall, the world’s largest shopping centre – figures published yesterday by the property broker Colliers International show.
Moreover, that number is set to increase by another 250,000 sq metres in 2015 as projects – such as Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Properties’ 162,500-square metre Mall of Egypt and an extension to the Mall of Arabia, Egypt’s current largest shopping centre – come on stream. Local property brokers estimate that 70 per cent of MAF’s project has already been leased.
According to Colliers, there is a further 850,000 sq metres of shopping space – double the size of The Dubai Mall – in Cairo, which is currently on hold.
Stuart Gissing, a regional director of Colliers International, said Cairo’s retail market had been surprisingly stable despite the political unrest.
“Some sectors, such as high street fashion, are actually seeing an increase in demand,” he said. “We are seeing that some retailers already in Egypt are definitely interested in occupying more space.
“However, new entrants into the Egyptian market are waiting to see what happens in the market before they commit.
“Developers, too, are split between those pressing ahead despite the political unrest and those taking a position and waiting.”
Cairo Festival City Mall is set to form the centrepiece of Cairo Festival City, a 3-million sq metre neighbourhood of housing, offices, hotels and schools in New Cairo.
