Business | General
Jashanmal plans nine more outlets by end of next year
Jashanmal National Company will open nine more outlets in the UAE by end of 2009, group chief executive Gangu Batra told Gulf News.
- By Nadia Saleem, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:07 July 4, 2008
- Gangu Batra says growth in Dubai is the "biggest and fastest" in the past eight-ten years and especially in the past four years.
- Image Credit: Bloomberg News
Dubai: Jashanmal National Company will open nine more outlets in the UAE by end of 2009, group chief executive Gangu Batra told Gulf News.
Currently, the company, which focuses on department stores, has 33 outlets in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, under the name of the parent company as well as franchises of specialty stores such as Clark and Burberry.
Batra said that in the past four years, the company had seen an annual growth rate of about 27 per cent in Dubai. "We are still growing as the economy of [the] UAE grows. For the next five years, a growth of 20-30 per cent is expected in our type of business."
He said the growth in Dubai is the "biggest and fastest" in the past eight-ten years and especially in the past four years.
The company also operates in Bahrain and Kuwait within the Gulf and has been established in Dubai since 1956.
Tourists from Eastern-Europe have been contributing to heavy sales for the past four years and are continuing to do so, according to Batra. The only change he sees is their preference of products, which has gone from electronics to branded clothing and watches.
A challenge Batra sees in an economy such as that of UAE, is the difficulty in introducing new brands. "There are many businesses here that are established, and for a new comer, there is a lot of competition," Batra said, adding that his company started at a good time and the new brands under their company will "need a lot of work".
Over the years, the business landscape has changed, according to Batra. "Department stores are losing their grip on business and specialty stores are getting more of it." He said branded names such as Burberry and specialty stores are becoming more successful.
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