Home Centre, the home decor retailer, will be adding another four shops in the UAE as part of its Dh1 billion, five-year expansion plan.
Home Centre currently has 16 stores across the UAE.
The new store openings will be Karama in Dubai opening imminently, Fujairah opening in November, Al Ain which has already partially opened and the fourth in Nakheel Mall on Palm Jumeirah.
The aggressive expansion includes a further 20 shops in Saudi Arabia, bringing its total number in the kingdom to 49.
The group will finance its own expansion, looking to increase its store count and retail footfall by 50 per cent.
The retailer has close to 90 stores and an annual footfall of more than 3 million people currently.
The UAE-based retailer, celebrating its 20-year anniversary this month, will also begin selling over 2,500 products online from Sunday, offering next-day delivery, cash on delivery and an easy returns policy.
“Our online offering will only be available in the UAE at first,” said Mederic Payne, the chief executive of Home Centre.
“We have the capability and warehousing to fulfill our UAE commitments, which is most important with online sales.
“I do not see it driving growth in sales and revenues until 2018-19 but it will be a key growth driver for us.
“Our most loyal customers are Emiratis, followed by expat Arabs and Asian expats and we are focusing our sales and service to reflect that demographic mix.”
ascott@thenational.ae
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