eXtra featured as one of the Top 50 Brands in the Kingdom

08/17/2011

eXtra: Ingredients for Success

When it was founded in 2003, few might have expected that in less than 10 years, eXtra, would become the fastest-growing consumer electronics and home appliances retailer in the Kingdom. From one store in Riyadh, eXtra has continued growing and now owns 19 stores across the country, with five more planned for this year alone. Their meteoric rise has been both astounding and humbling, but if anything, it has been a product of the entire company's dedication to reaching their customers wherever they may be in the Kingdom. Now, three times the size of its nearest competitor in terms of turnover and number of stores, the company remains focused on its strategy for reaching its goal of becoming the undisputed market leader for electronics and home appliance in the central part of the world by 2020.

Chairman of United Electronics Company, Abdullah Fauzan’s vision has been instrumental in keeping the company focused in the right direction along two paths in which all have worked towards; the first, a customer oriented shopping experience that offers more than 12,000 products in 19 stores across the kingdom with the most competitive prices in the market, coupled with the highest quality after-sales service available from a fully qualified team throughout its sales channels and its online portal002C which was recently launched to reach a larger segment of the population. The second, drawing from the experience of a strong management team, who have maintained their focus on growth and strong results. This strategy has succeeded in attracting almost 10 million customers a year to eXtra stores across the country.

In line with continuously offering more to the customer, eXtra recently announced the launch of their online shopping portal (www.extra.com), the first one of its kind in the Kingdom. The new eXtra website offers more than 3,000 products for immediate purchase around the clock, servicing 90 cities within the Kingdom. The launch of this new retail website will offer shoppers a new level of time-saving convenience by giving them the option to compare products and prices and shop from the comfort of their own home 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Founded on eXtra’s strategy to provide different sales channels to meet customers’ demands, the company has spent two years and approximately SAR 5 million developing the new online portal.

Galal, said about the new website, “The launch of our e-commerce portal represents the natural next step in the ongoing evolution of eXtra. By capitalizing on the fast growth in online shopping, we’ve prominently positioned ourselves to be the leader of the online shopping experience in the Kingdom. We have invested many working hours and created a specialized team to develop this site into an unparalleled user-friendly service.”

Galal further added. “Over the next one to two years, customers will become increasingly knowledgeable as they have access to greater product information from the internet. To meet this challenge, we will continue to develop our online services to consistently provide the best services for our customers.”

In order to continue in providing the ultimate customer experience, in 2010 alone, eXtra held 144 specialized training and career development programs for their employees. Understanding that a large part of eXtra’s success comes from the people who work within the organization, eXtra has more than 1,700 people throughout the Kingdom working at eXtra stores and as they learn, gain experience and improve so too does the company and the relationship with their customers. With continued investment in a wide range of HR programs, open-door policy, regular company-employee meetings, rewarding bonus and incentive schemes combined with the latest HR self-service systems, they have created a uniquely supportive working environment for their employees.

Ranked as one of the Kingdom’s fastest-growing companies by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) and the “Best Retail Working Environment in the Kingdom” within the retail category, eXtra owns the largest network of stores within Kingdom and is committed to meeting the needs of Saudi consumers.