Dubai: After experiencing steady growth in sales in recent years, Aldo, the shoe and accessory brand, says it has plans to open 50 new stores across the UAE in the next five years.
Aldo Bensadoun, chief executive officer of Aldo Group told Gulf News: "We've been very fortunate because the shoes that we designed have been very well accepted in the UAE.
"We have a great partner here and they're doing a fantastic job. The customer really loves us."
Despite shops generally reporting a drop in sales, Bensadoun said the company was experiencing a steady growth in sales in the UAE.
"People have been talking about recession, but we've been doing extremely well in the last year-and-a-half which is why we're planning on opening new stores," Bensadoun said.
"We increased our sales by 18 per cent compared to last year."
Aldo Group has had a presence in the UAE since 2000 and in that time it has expanded aggressively with shops now totalling 100. Aldo's holds a 60 per cent share in the UAE market, its biggest in the GCC region.
New strategy
The company plans to offer online shopping in the UAE in six months to a year. "We are working quite hard here in the UAE to be online because we are online in the US and England," Bensadoun said.
The company also planned to expand by opening more stores under its Spring brand name, Bensadoun said.
Aldo operates under six retail banners: Aldo, Aldo Accessories, Spring, Feetfirst, Globo and Little Burgundy. It plans to open another 20 stores across the GCC.
Aldo Bensadoun started his stores in Montreal in 1972 and expanded to the high streets of London in 2002.
Now the company operates over 700 stores across Canada, the US and UK and more than 400 franchise stores in 41 countries. Stores are designed to create a fun, upbeat environment for shoppers between 18 and 25. Bensadoun said Aldo's customers in the UAE were 60 per cent women.
The brand prides itself on being competitively priced.
"The size of our company allows us to produce large quantities and we pass those savings on to our customers and offer them lower prices," Bensadoun said.
He said Aldo did not wholesale the distribution of its products and only sold its ranges through its single brand stores.
"We like to control the environment in which we sell. Selling shoes is not just the product, it's the experience that we like to give to the customer. The market is tremendous in that sense and it seems that the people here are very receptive," Bensadoun said.
Challenges
The CEO said the most challenging aspect about his business was the supply chain. "One of our goals is to be fresh and in fashion," he said.
"We try to have the latest styles in our fashion store. We need to produce them and manufacture them and ship them here. The challenge here is how you make that period of time shorter."
Bensadoun said this was resolved by forecasting where the demand lay so they were able to pre-buy material so it was on hand.
Plans include expanding into India and China. The company currently has five stores in India and one in Hong Kong and hopes to add more to its portfolio in the region, he said.
