Private Labels have 15% of the retail market in GCC & 17% in KSA

Private Labels save 35% comparing to the similar products

Riyadh: May 8th, 2007: Major retailers in the Gulf are appealing to establish their own-label products; In the gulf  private label account for 6% of all goods sold and around 15% of total supermarket grocery sales with signs of fast growth; however, With the rapid influx of several international retailers to the ksa , these figures are soaring steadily;  private label account for 17% of all goods sold, The Saudi market has become more competitive than ever before, and is now more open to international, regional, and local retail and food chains. Many local players have responded to these new threats by exploring new fronts to effectively influence the consumers' preferences in any given category.

Al Sadhan trading company, one of the major retail formats operating in Al Riyadh, has recently debuted its private grocery brands; Baraka and lily have strongly gushed into the local market, and their high quality and reasonable prices has ensured a wide public acceptance. Currently Al Sadhan in-house labels embrace these very successful brands: Bonito clothing apparel and footwear for men, women, and children, Force tech for Electronic appliances, Avenue for home center goods, Baraka food grocery items and lily home and personal care products.

Mr. Maher Assaf, Al Sadhan private label manager, stated that "this project was set up only 6 months ago to meet a growing need in the Saudi market for good quality grocery products at correspondingly good prices, it started with the idea to create a complete line of products for customers that are not only price conscious but also looking to satisfy their needs for high quality safe products."

"it was never about competing with the leading brand names already sold at Al Sadhan, instead our goal in creating these brands was to provide al Sadhan customers with a wide variety of guaranteed quality items at very affordable costs", explains Maher.

"There is no big mark up involved once the product reaches our outlets.  Lily bleach can cost up to half the price of other leading brands.  The added bonus of buying store brand products is the great quality of customer service that comes with it.  If any customer happens to be dissatisfied, the problem is resolved immediately.  Both labels are currently in such high demand that the manufacturers are always in production.  Baraka oil and Lily tissue are perfect examples of this since they currently sustain the highest sales within their product range."

Maher also pointed out, "although we are facing many fabrication, packaging and legal issues; we are still continually introducing new products, which are manufactured locally or in other Levant countries.  Our customers will soon dash to a complete line of grocery products, made with only the highest components, all boasting the same top premium standards at a savings of 35% compared to name brands."

"As for customers of these products", says Maher, "they are very price conscious, very particular when it comes to value and accessibility, but unwilling to compromise as far quality is concerned. They are not brand focused but are fully aware of food trends and safety regulations."

What is the future for this successful venture? Maher affirmed that selling these very promising products overseas is definitely a future prospect, but it will take some time before the foundation to run our private label as an independent group is set up.  We will also soon launch many new food products: meat tuna, honey, tomato paste, powdered juice mixes, powdered milk juice syrups, pasta, rice, oats, dry fruits, and canned foods.

-Ends-

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© Press Release 2007