Géant plans to expand into Kuwait and Qatar

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Papar: the French retail chain plans to enter Kuwait.

Géant is set to open five stores in Kuwait, bosses of its holding company revealed to Retail News.

The chain, part of French retailing giant Groupe Casino, will open two hypermarkets and three supermarkets, with the first hypermarket scheduled to open at the end of 2008.

"Kuwait offers a reasonably sized population with significant purchasing power, and is a place where our business has real potential for a mix of formats. We are also looking at several projects within the UAE," said Mazher Papar, director, Retail Arabia.

The company is also looking to emerging markets including Qatar, Papar said, as the country would give the company access to a "small, but very fast growing market."

Jean Marc Lebrun, group general manager for Retail Arabia said the chain faces its most serious competition from EMKE Group's Lulu hypermarkets and co-operatives in the UAE.

Lebrun said the company would offer the same approach to new stores across the Middle East, except product changes based on different customer profiles such as markets with high numbers of local expatriates.

He said the chain is focused on key philosophies including having everything under the same roof and high volumes of single items.

Shoppers' increasing demand for quick access to shopping spaces has pushed the company to "look seriously" at introducing a convenience store format in the region.

Lebrun said the company plans to roll out the concept if the same product prices can be offered.

"It is something that we are thinking about, especially when we see that our customers in Dubai do not want to spend 25 minutes travelling to shops, yet the main problem for us would having the same prices.

"We need to have the same prices to be successful as a concept, and if we can then it will definitely be in the pipeline," he said.

Rising real estate costs have emerged as a key challenge for the company, and has posed delays on expansion moves.

"Prices have gone up significantly and inflation is differently an issues, and we do not want them to change our position in the market," said Papar.

In response to recent figures indicating the region is heading for saturation in the retail sector, Papar said a lot of upcoming projects have been "badly designed and not very well thought out."

"There has definitely been a shake-up in the market, however I disagree that there will be oversupply in the market. It is more a question of having the right project at the right place.

"Size seems to be a very critical component of developments at the moment, but that is not necessarily the case, rather it should be a question of what is the most viable model."

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