H&M
Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), an international fashion retailer, made its presence in Saudi Arabia with the opening of the first of its three stores at Jeddah’s latest Mall of Arabia on Saturday night. A large number of shoppers turned up, following the store’s announcement of an attractive launch offer. The 2,277 square meter store hosts women-only “Beauty Box” store-within-a-store. The expansion of the trendy high street brand is a result of H&M’s partnership with M.H. Alshaya Co., one of the Middle East’s leading retailers. “We are very excited to introduce H&M to the Saudi market,” said Mohammed Alshaya, chairman of M.H. Alshaya Company. “We believe the brand will rapidly become a popular choice as it has done in other parts of the region. The wide assortment on offer coupled with the introduction of new garments into the store every day will be something unique in the Kingdom and will enhance the shopper’s experience,” he added. “Saudi Arabia has an extremely diverse population base with a strong interest in fashion. We believe the country is an ideal location to open H&M and will be well received by this fashion conscious market,” Alshaya said. “We are very excited to finally bring the H&M philosophy to the Kingdom. We are convinced that fashionable shoppers of the Kingdom will find our concept as appealing as it is to their counterparts elsewhere in the region. Lady shoppers will be happy to note that 20 female staff members assist them at our women-only “Beauty Box”, Jazz Hayer, business director H&M Middle East, said.
CENTREPOINT
The City Plaza at Dome Mall on Prince Sultan Street in Jeddah formally became Centrepoint at a ceremony held last weekend. “Centrepoint incorporates a new concept of retailing with a free movement for shoppers through its four department stores — Babyshop, Splash, Shoemart and Lifestyle — under one roof. The Homecentre store was also opened up after a complete renovation and a brand new look along with EMAX its Electronics Store,” Santosh K. Pai, chief operating officer at Centrepoint, told reporters on the sidelines of the launch ceremony. A colorful display of traditional cultural program marked the ceremony with fireworks with games and events for children and ladies. “Previously, customers had to settle the bill at each store before moving on to another. Now, they have all been brought together providing a free access through all of its stores for added convenience,” he added. Of the 34 City Plazas around the Kingdom, up to 19 of them have already been changed to Centrepoint. “The remaining ones will be changed by the end of the financial year,” Pai said. The proliferation of shopping malls across Jeddah has triggered a tough competition for retailers. “While malls have an edge with families for leisure shopping and children’s recreation and grocery shopping, stores like Centrepoint will continue to attract serious and focused shoppers due to its wider appeal of retailing international fashion at competitive prices,” Pai added. The name change was preceded by a renovation plan with a view to giving a new look to it. At least a dozen Centrepoints are in the pipeline across the Kingdom. Among the new ones planned is one in Madinah in the next two weeks. Jeddah will have two more Centrepoints — one at Mall of Arabia by mid-December, followed by another at Central Park near King Abdul Aziz University in February and Flamingo mall by April. Pai said Saudization has been at the forefront and we employ over 350 strong workforces.
HEWITT
Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting firm, said yesterday that organizations can now register to participate in the Middle East version of its global ‘Best Employers’ study. Through this research, participating organizations will be able to measure their effectiveness in creating a workplace that both engages the hearts and minds of employees, and one that leads the market in their people practices. Interested organizations should register on www.hewitt.com/bestemployersmiddleeast. “We are very excited about the launch of Hewitt’s first ‘Best Employers in Middle East’ study. As the region is becoming extremely competitive in terms of attracting and retaining the right talent, companies need to be able to differentiate themselves. The Hewitt best employers study provides a credible benchmark for employers to create a competitive advantage through their people,” Debabrat Mishra, Middle East consulting business leader, Hewitt Associates, said. Given the global success of this initiative, the best employers in Middle East study is expected to generate a high volume of interest. “Most organizations are not best employers yet, and so we find that for many organizations it is as much about the findings and learning as it is about being named a Hewitt best employer,” added Mishra. Through this initiative, Hewitt is also contributing to the ongoing efforts of regional governments to create an economic environment that is conducive to growth and yet meets the aspirations of individuals seeking positive work environments.
MOTOROLA
The Enterprise Mobility business from Motorola, Inc. has introduced several new RFID product enhancements and an increase in geographic availability that meets the business needs of customers around the world. Motorola’s collaboration with its global network of partners has helped the company solidify its worldwide market leadership among a wide variety of organizations that cut across multiple industries. Motorola is at the forefront of advancing RFID implementations beyond the pilot phase, in such areas as item-level inventory tracking in the retail industry, baggage tracking and MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) in aviation, IT asset management in the financial sector and high value asset management in energy. Recent customer implementations across the globe include: Qatar Post in the Middle East; YCH Logistics and Yayasan Sabah Group in Asia; Lufthansa Technik in Europe; Anglo American Chile, Liverpool, and Volkswagen Mexico in Latin America; and American Apparel, CostPlus World Market, and Daimler Trucks LLC in the United States. According to ABI Research, Motorola leads the industry in year on year performance and growth, demonstrating strong shipments, solid product innovation, and persistent market presence. Motorola received the top ranking in ABI Research’s recent UHF Passive RFID Vendor Matrix with exceptionally high scores for both its product innovation and rate of implementation. Motorola RFID readers also received top ranking in the recent Retail Information System (RIS) News’ Hardware Vendor Scoreboard.
PPG
The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (DCCI) Printing and Publishing Group (PPG) has announced that the 2008 edition of the Dubai Print Award (DPA) — GCC will be held on Jan. 27, 2009, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Dubai. The third annual Dubai Print Award will highlight the industry’s solid 2008 performance, which is expected to generate more than AED 6 trillion in annual revenue. Organized with the support of Sheikh Maktoum Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, chairman of the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Authority, Dubai Print Award 2008 will hand out gold, silver and special jury awards for 20 different categories, including six debuting digital printing maximum size (A3) awards. The digital printing category includes point-of-purchase materials, posters, annual reports, cards, brochures and catalogs, and newsletters. “Last year, PPG decided to expand the scope of the award to cover the entire Gulf, which resulted in strong participation from all the GCC countries, and in turn benefiting the whole Middle Eastern industry. We are in a point in time where the Gulf offers vast opportunities for our sector; DPA provides us with a welcome extra motivation to excel in this highly progressive market,” said Ahmed Al-Sheikh, MD, Modern Printing Press. “The Dubai Print Award is an excellent platform to promote printing and publishing quality and excellence throughout the GCC. It provides industry with benchmarks for further growth and also influences a culture of quality in our products and services. As the diverse audience attending the event will show, DPA’s importance is acknowledged by both the private and public sectors,” said Tarek Jawherji, CEO, Color Lines Group.
ADVANCED COMPOSITES
Advanced Composites (AC), one of the leading producers of glass reinforced piping (GRP) system solutions for the infrastructural sector and a subsidiary of Emaar Industries & Investments, has announced that it has been awarded an AED58 million contract to supply and install the district cooling GRP piping network at Nakheel’s Palm Jabel Ali — Crescent A project. AC has supplied over 100 km of GRP pre-insulated pipe systems for a number of District Cooling projects in the UAE. AC’s general manager, Raed Al-Zubi, explains the challenges involved in such a prestigious project. “Firstly, as the nominated sub-contractor for the district cooling works, we are extremely pleased by this latest contract win. We strongly value our working relationship with Nakheel on its prestigious projects and this gives us another opportunity to demonstrate our value offering. We are also looking forward to working with the main contractor on this project, Al-Rajhi Construction. In terms of challenges, AC needs to focus from the start on moving forward with the execution of this project in line with projects timelines and deliverables. It is critical to understand the client’s needs and expectations and to work swiftly in order to align with the project’s overall construction timeline for the prompt delivery of our work. So it is important for us to plan well and communicate effectively with the main contractor to ensure that we execute well.” AC will provide over 20 km of GRP pipes for this particular project with the pipes ranging in diameter from 50 to 800 millimeters.
CPC
Construction Products Holding Company (CPC) is building another industrial complex to meet growing demand from an unprecedented construction boom in the region. Its new investment is in the Dammam Industrial Zone where a 600,000 square meters area will be developed into an integrated complex consisting of an electric cables factory, construction steel factory, float glass factory, ready-mix concrete plant, precast concrete plant, transportation company, warehouses and housing and office facilities. When completed, it will be CPC’s fourth industrial complex and the third largest, said Faysal Alaquil, director, business development and official spokesperson at CPC. “It will have the most advanced equipment and machinery so as to meet the great demand of construction projects in the Eastern Region,” he added. CPC presently has industrial complexes in Jeddah, Bahra and Riyadh. “Our Dammam industrial complex is the fourth for CPC and the third in terms of size and it is in line with our development plan to extend our reach across Saudi Arabia with ‘one-stop shops’ offering building and construction materials straight from our factories. Success in this regard has motivated us to build more industrial complexes, especially in view of the unprecedented upswing in construction of giant projects in various areas of the Kingdom,” Alaquil said.
STC
Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) has signed a number of strategic agreements with six new success partners under its Qitaf program. They include Saudi Arabian Oud, Kudo, Dunkin Donuts, Dominos Pizza, Al-Derais Company, and Al-Tayyar Travel Group Company. This brings the total of Qitaf partners to 22 companies, which between them own 109 trademarks and have sales outlets across the Kingdom. The new agreements underscore STC’s leading role in providing a variety of options for Qitaf program customers in order to open new channels for them and expand their choices of different products. Success of the Qitaf program is also due to the many promotions launched by STC including the “Transfer your points” campaign, which has attracted a huge amount of interest from customers. STC is currently studying the possibility of introducing Qitaf vouchers electronically, using a special system to save its customers both time and effort. The Qitaf program has been introduced by STC to express appreciation of its customers’ loyalty and has been developed in consultation with leading Middle East companies specializing in customer recognition and rewards programs. Customers can check the number of Qitaf points earned by sending an SMS including the number 1933 to 902. Alternatively they can call the Customer Care Center on 907 or 902 or visit the company’s website www.stc.com.sa.
