Al Maya, a winning format with 12 more stores

Starting from a single supermarket in the UAE in 1982, the Al Maya Group has become one of the the Middle East’s leading supermarket chains. Today it has 33 supermarkets and hypermarkets in the UAE, as well as 5 supermarkets in the Sultanate of Oman. “We continue to expand and plan to open 12 new stores in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain this year,” said Kamal Vachani, the chain’s managing director. Current Al Maya shop formats are very diverse, ranging from 3000 to 50,000 square feet. “A new design and concept is being implemented in all our stores,” he said.  Headquartered in the UAE, the Al Maya Group has strengthened its regional presence across Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar in the past two decades. The group has also been fortifying its global spread with stores in India and the UK. Its successful strategy has been to maintain high quality standards of fresh food supplies all season and covering 97% of the market, with formats ranging from small grocery stores to large hypermarkets. Fruit is the top-selling category in fresh produce. Apples and pears come first and represent 9.44% of turnover, second are bananas with 8.66%, then exotics with 6.46% and citrus with 6.03%. “We deal direct with most of the leadings suppliers of fresh produce around the globe, in order to provide our valued customers with the best quality.” Taking the apple category as an example, 45% of Royal Galas come from New Zealand, 40% from France, and 15% from Chile, Spain and Brazil. Red Delicious mainly come from the US (60%), France (25%), and Chile and Spain (15%). About 45% of the Granny Smith apples are from France, 15% from Spain, 15% from the US, and the rest from South Africa, Chile and New Zealand. The US supplies 35% of Goldens, France 25%, and Chile, Spain and South Africa the rest. As for pears, we handle D’Anjou (60% from the US and 30% from South Africa), Forelle (60% from South Africa), as well as Packhams from South Africa and Ya Pears from China.  Tomatoes are the top vegetable item, representing 8% of total fresh produce sales. A third of its volumes comes from Jordan, 25% from Oman, 12% from India and 5% each from Egypt, Malaysia and Holland. Potatoes make up 6% of fresh produce sales. About 30% come from Lebanon, 20% from Jordan, 10% from Egypt, and also some from China, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. “Our organic product sales achieve their margins and are tending to improve, forming about 2% of total fresh produce sales this year.” Local organic farms are developing new growing technologies like hydroponics and making more products available on the market. With the largest distribution centre in the UAE, the Al Maya Group holds the sole GCC rights to distribute a spectacular variety of FMCG products across the region. This ranges from foodstuffs to apparel and luxurious salon treatments. All brands are completely synonymous with the Al Maya Group vision of high quality standards. BS