22 February 2006
Middle East based companies are increasingly focusing on consumers who want products that conform to Islamic ideals, and their success has prompted US marketers to fight back with their own 'culturally sensitive' brands.
Mecca-Cola, which was set up in 2002 to offer an alternative to Coca-Cola, continues to expand after it profited from boycotts and anti-western feeling in the region due to the invasion of Iraq.
"Sales are going well and they are increasing every year it is not just a fashion wave," Tawfik Mathlouthi, founder of Mecca-Cola, says. Last year the company sold 1bn litres worldwide and according to Mr Mathlouthi, it is the third world brand for cola after Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
Mr Mathlouthi hopes to bring Mecca-Cola, whose labels resemble those of Coca-Cola, back to the UK. Distribution had stopped after problems with suppliers. Other European countries with large Muslim populations including Italy, Spain, France, Holland and Germany sell Mecca-Cola, as well as the Middle East, Malaysia, Bangladeshi, Pakistan and North African countries, Mr Mathlouthi says.
Cultural differences between the Middle East and the west have heightened consumers' awareness of companies that offer goods for Muslims and local groups are responding with growing success to a market which wants more Islamic products rather than the traditionally preferred American or European items.
In 2003, the Syrian based company, Newboy Studios launched the Fulla doll. Since then Fulla has pushed Barbie out of the market in the Middle East.
"Fulla is number one in the Gulf. We sell nearly 70 dolls everyday here. We only sell one or two Barbies a day," Apesamir Musa, store manager at Toys 'r' Us in Cairo, says.
Fulla comes with her own pink felt prayer mat and is dressed in a black abaya or robe complete with matching headscarf. She has a more modest bosom than Barbie and keeps herself well covered up. Fulla retails for 60 Egyptian pounds less than half the price of Barbie.
Fawaz Abidin, brand manager of Fulla at Newboy Studios, expects sales to increase by 30 per cent in 2006.
"We have identified with the needs of the market. We have studied the market and the culture. Whenever there is room to reflect what the consumers want we translate it into a product," Mr Abidin says.
Higher levels of disposable income have also made other products such as mobile phones attractive to consumers.
Ilkone Mobile Telecommunications, based in the UAE, identified a gap in the market and in 2004 launched the i800, the first mobile phone for Muslims.
The phone offers exact prayer timing anywhere in the world, it can tell users where Mecca is and provides the entire text of the Holy Koran with an English translation.
Malik Farafad, service manager at Ilkone, is pleased with the positive feedback the company has had. The group is currently developing models for both the low and high ends of the market with more Islamic features on them.
"Companies are now catering for the choice, circumstance and demand in the market," says Professor Rodney Wilson, who specialises in Islamic trade at the school of government and international affairs at Durham University.
"These products have been successful. And people are already starting to copy goods like the Fulla doll with a cheaper version called Pulla. This is an indicator that Fulla is doing well. It is a growing market," says Jane Kinninmont, managing editor of the Middle East and Africa department at Business Monitor International.
She says that brands such as Mecca Cola have yet to seriously threaten the dominance of the US beverage companies, "which enjoy much greater technological sophistication and economies of scale", however.
Moreover, the experienced marketers at major US firms are fighting back, trying to reposition themselves as brands that are in touch with local culture and identity. "For example, PepsiCo's sales are recovering since it launched a series of ads featuring Middle Eastern sports stars rather than the global celebrities it has traditionally hired."
Dr Bassam Fattouh, academic director of international management for Middle East and North Africa at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, says that local companies will only be able to retain customers if they offer high-quality goods at the right price.
This will ultimately be more important for consumers than whether products are based on Islamic ideals, he says.
By Katie Reid
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