LuLu Group has made a huge leap in the latest list of global retailer rankings published by Deloitte. The Group which was ranked at 183rd in the 2013 list of the top 250 global retailers, has risen 14 places in the 2014 latest rankings.
Deloitte, a professional services firm that has published these rankings, has said that LuLu Group averaged a compound annual growth rate of more than 18 % between 2008 and 2013. They also added that the group's revenues in 2013 was estimated at $5 billion, up from $4.5 billion in the previous year.
LuLu Group is the only entry from the Middle East in the global 250 list, which has put US giant Wal-Mart whose revenues in 2013 was at more than $ 476 billion, on top. LuLu group is set to open 15 new hypermarkets in UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, KSA and Egypt in the next few months. LuLu Group had earlier announced its plan to open hypermarkets in Malaysia and Indonesia, thus setting its foothold in Far-East Asia.
Deloitte added that the top 250 global retailers generated a revenue of $4.4 trillion in 2013, each with an average size of more than $17.4 billion. Its 2015 ‘Global Powers of Retailing, Embracing Innovation’ report added that revenue growth for the top 250 retailers, which began declining in 2011, continued to slow in fiscal year 2013. According to the report, sales-weighted, currency-adjusted retail revenue growth was 4.1 % for the top 250, following a 4.9 % gain in the year 2012.
Says Herve Ballantyne, partner and consumer business leader at Deloitte Middle East, “The sluggish global economy in 2014 left many consumers financially constrained and retail sales under pressure. Thus, the prosperity of the global retail sector in 2015 will very much depend on the economic stability of several of the largest economies. Despite the recent fall in oil prices, there is little evidence at this stage that it will negatively impact consumer spending in the Middle East. Although European grocers might be slowing expansion, no such problems are affecting those in the Middle East.”
