Major UAE retailer deploys Oracle solutions to enhance retail and business management

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 16 August 2006: Kamal Osman Jamjoom Est. (KOJ), one of the leading retail groups in UAE, is set to enhance and expand its operations across the Gulf region, by harnessing the power of Oracle Retail and E-Business suite solutions. The group is about to start the roll out of a number of Oracle applications that will create a powerful, integrated solution to manage its business, and to better position it to grow its presence in retail in the Middle East.

KOJ owns the Mikyajy make-up and accessories brand, and the Nayomi lingerie brand; as well as holding franchises for The Body Shop in the Western region of  Saudi Arabia and Early Learning Centre across the GCC. The group already has around 260 stores in the region, but plans to grow this to over 1,000 stores in the next three years. The Oracle Retail and Oracle E-Business Suite solutions that have been selected by KOJ will help the group to gain greater insight and management of its business processes, enabling it to make informed decisions, increase efficiency and achieve visibility across the enterprise.

"As KOJ is responsible for both our own highly successful brands and for two well-regarded international brands, we understand the importance of providing the best possible retail experience to our customers. With the planned expansion of our group, it becomes even more important that we are able to manage our staff and provide them with high standards of training, that we have full transparency and management of our supply chain to meet customer demand, and that we have a clear and consistent view of our whole operation, to enable us to plan our growth strategy accordingly," said Thameem Rizvon, Group IT Manager, KOJ.

"Oracle's E-Business Suite and Retail solutions offer us the most powerful applications to manage all of these processes, along with the flexibility to expand as the group grows, and to integrate new applications as we require them," he added.

KOJ is to deploy a number of different modules from Oracle's Retail and E-Business solutions, that will manage key retail activities such as merchandising, planning, supply chain, demand forecasting, store inventory, point of sales, data warehouse and retail intelligence, along with back office functions such as finance, human resources and training, payroll, property management and project management.

"We are very pleased that KOJ have chosen Oracle Retail and Oracle E-Business Solutions to help them drive their expansion across the region. Retailers today face a highly competitive environment, with growing demand from customers and increasing competition as the industry grows in the region. We are confident that with our solutions in place, KOJ will have the insight, analysis and functionality they need to manage a modern, fast-growing retail chain," said Arun Khehar, Vice President, Retail, Private, Manufacturing,   Oracle Middle East and Africa.

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