15 May 2017
· Customers can shop and pay online and collect products in-store.

· The Group's E-commerce sites and apps are now available in Arabic.

· Babyshop customers can schedule deliveries for products that need assembly.

Dubai, UAE – The Landmark Group, the Middle East’s leading retail and hospitality conglomerate, continues its commitment to improving customer experience with the launch of three new features for its online shoppers. These include Click & Collect and Arabic versions for its seven E-commerce brands, as well as Scheduled Deliveries for Babyshop. 

“We're thrilled to announce the launch of these three great features for our millions of customers!” says Savitar Jagtiani, Business Head, E-commerce, Landmark Group. “Click & Collect continues to perform excellently in more mature retail markets like the UK and accounts for 30% to 50% of online orders from leading Omni-Channel retailers.”

“Arabizing our sites and apps was logical for our Arabic-speaking customers and makes their shopping experience more convenient,” continues Jagtiani. “Scheduled Deliveries for Babyshop's customers makes shopping products that need assembly or installation both simpler and easier. We remain completely committed to always improving our customer's shopping experience.”

Click & Collect allows customers to shop and pay for their order online and collect it in-store on the next business day. Benefits for customers include zero shipping charges and the flexibility of collecting their order from a convenient location. Already popular in evolved retail markets such as the UK and the US, Click & Collect is launching in 124 of the Group’s 175 stores in the UAE with the goal of expanding to all stores in the near future.  

In addition to Click & Collect, the Group has launched Arabic versions of their 7 E-commerce sites and apps. According to a Harvard Business Review report, 72.1% of consumers spend most or all of their time on websites in their own language and over 55% prefer obtaining information in their own language. With this launch, customers can now opt to switch to Arabic at any point in their retail journey and enjoy their shopping experience in their language of choice.

Along with these two launches, Babyshop has introduced Scheduled Deliveries for products that need assembly. The facility allows customers to book a preferred delivery date and time as they shop online. At the moment, this can be done for car seats, nursery furniture or any other Babyshop product that requires installation. Customers can also opt for faster 2-day Express shipping by paying an additional AED 100. Scheduled Deliveries are already available for Home Centre furniture and has proven to be a convenient and user-friendly feature.

These innovations join several others that have been introduced by the Group’s Web Team on its E-commerce platforms in the last few months, including online returns and cancellations and easier navigation on iPhone apps. Combined, they represent the latest steps in the Landmark Group’s efforts to further improve its E-commerce and Omni-Channel experience and effectively bridge the gap between online and offline shopping.

About the Landmark Group
Founded in 1973 in Bahrain, the Landmark Group has grown into one of the largest and most successful retail organizations in the Middle East and India. An international, diversified retail and hospitality conglomerate that encourages entrepreneurship and consistently delivers exceptional value, the Group operates over 2400 outlets encompassing over 30 million square feet across the Middle East, North Africa and the Indian sub-continent.

The Landmark Group has a strong workforce of over 55,000 employees and provides a value-driven product range for the family through its retail concepts: Centrepoint, Babyshop, Splash, Shoe Mart, Lifestyle, Iconic, SportsOne, Max, Shoexpress, Home Centre, Home Box and Emax. In addition to the brands developed in-house, the Group also holds the franchise for some of the world's leading fashion and footwear brands in the countries where it operates.

The Group has also diversified into the leisure, food, hospitality and healthcare segments with Landmark Leisure, Citymax Hotels, Fitness First and Foodmark, the restaurant division, which operates the Group's own and franchise food outlets and iCARE Clinics, primary healthcare clinics for the family. For more information please visit www.landmarkgroup.com.

For further information, please contact:
Pradip Lal
Head of Marketing 
Web Team, Landmark Group 
Switchboard: +971 4517 2009
Email: pradip.lal@landmarkgroup.com  

© Press Release 2017