“While global economic growth is on the mend, most of it is taking place in emerging markets, many of which are experiencing rapidly increasing consumer spending,” said Nasser Sagga, audit partner at Deloitte & Touche Bakr Abulkhair & Co.

“Within the Middle East there is a number of emerging economies that meet the criteria of strong growth prospects and good demographics, Egypt and Turkey being two such examples.”

Retailers in the MEA region continued to post strong growth and solid profitability in the latest GPR report. The region was the only one to report double digit composite retail sales growth for the past fiscal year at 13.2 percent and ranked second as a region for its compound annual growth rate (10.4 percent) of composite retail sales between 2004 and 2009.

Produced in conjunction with STORES Media, GPR examines trends for retailers to consider as they plan their growth strategies, provides a global economic outlook for retail, and discusses “Q” ratio - a way of drawing inferences about the future performance of retailers by examining current financial information. In addition, it identifies the 250 largest retailers around the world for the past fiscal year.

Retailers from the MEA region represented an 11.6 percent share of the Top 250 sales in the latest GPR report. Six of the eight Top 250 companies from this region enjoyed double-digit gains in the latest fiscal year.

For the better part of two decades, retail experts have been predicting the globalization of the industry. Now, however, they may be right. With many more companies ready to take the plunge, GPR 2011 takes a close look at globalization - what lessons can be learned from retailers who have been successful? Which retailers seem to have the most international presence — and where?

“Perhaps of most interest is that global retailers are increasingly talking about Africa where rising commodity prices and better governance are fueling good growth. It will be interesting to see if the world’s retailers will take the plunge into what is considered the last frontier of modern retailing,” said Sagga.