Arabian Business Magazine Award

06/09/2010

UEC’S EXTRA BRAND WINS ARABIAN BUSINESS MAGAZINE AWARD IN SAUDI RETAIL SECTOR CATEGORY

First place goes to Kingdom’s most popular electronics store

United Electronics Company’s Extra, the Kingdom’s most popular electronics store, has achieved first place in the Saudi retail sector category of the Arabian Business Magazine awards. The annual rankings are conducted by the magazine to recognize excellence in various field of enterprise.

Speaking at the gala dinner celebrating the presentation of the awards, Abdullah bin Abdul Latif Fawzaan, Chairman of United Electronics Company (UEC) and owner of the Extra and Zonik brands, expressed his happiness at receiving this prestigious award, stating that from the opening of the very first showroom Extra has secured a prominent position in the domestic market by understanding the needs of customers and fulfilling their aspirations and expectations.”

He went on to say; “In a relatively short time Extra has gained to the largest share of the electronics retail market in Saudi Arabia and this is a reflection of the trust placed in us by our customers. Today we renew our promise to continue providing value-added services and endeavor to surpass our customers’ expectations by offering them more of the global partner brands that have succeeded in winning their confidence.”

Also speaking about the ABM award, Mohamed Galal, CEO of United Electronics Company, expressed his great pleasure at the attendance at the gala awards event of Extra’s “Partners in Success”, including Al Matbooly Company for Household Appliances, represented by its Chief Executive Officer Mr. Adnan Matbooly; Al Faisaliah Group represented by its Managing Director Mr. Badr Suwailim; Philips Saudi Arabia represented by its General Manager Mr. Dick Bunchotin; and Hassan Gazi of Ibrahim Shaker Company.

Congratulating UEC on winning the award, Mr. Adnan Matbooly said: “In the robust and thriving Saudi home electronics market Extra stands out as a company that has expanded the opportunities for distributors of international brands to sell their products in a new and innovative way.” He added that: “We consider ourselves as key partners for Extra and share in their pride on winning this important award.”

Also offering his congratulations, Badr Al-Suwailem of Al Faisaliah, exclusive distributor for Japan’s Sony products in the Saudi Arabia, said: “We are honored to be celebrating this prestigious award with our partners at UEC. Today, Extra is one of the biggest companies in the Kingdom in terms of the number and size of its of showrooms, which complements Sony’s position as having the largest share in the field of electronics. We look forward to further developing relations between Modern Electronics Company and Extra and seeing our cooperation go from strength to strength, God Willing.”

In addition to the ABM award, at the Fourth International Competitiveness Forum held in Riyadh last February Extra won first place in the list of retailers with a growth rate of 340 percent between the years 2004 to 2008. Although the company’s life span does not yet exceed six years, the number of branches across the Kingdom has reached 15 with total sales of almost SR 3 billion at the end of 2009, a figure which is expected to increase 20 percent by the end of this year.

CEO Mr. Mohamed Galal stated that the secret behind the success of United Electronics Company is strategic planning based on market research into what consumers really want and expect. Timing was also an important factor, he said, because UEC was keen to be at least two years ahead of the competitors. He went on to say: “The launch strategy was three-pronged: first we designed innovative services such as Jawwaly and D3M, and introduced an array of products based on accurate readings of consumer needs; second, since our target was to reach 80 percent of the Saudi community, our strategy was to expand geographically and open in each city with a population of more than 300,000; and third, we set out to create a healthy working environment for our employees in order to make the most of their talents and enable them to deliver the best results.”

“In addition, we decided to provide products through forming strategic relationships directly with major international companies such as Nokia, HP, Acer and Zain, as well as through special relationships with regional industry leaders such as Al Matbooly Company, Al Faisaliah Group, Hassan Ghazi Ibrahim Shaker, Alesayi and others.”

Mohamed Galal concluded by saying: “We are committed to customer satisfaction by offering Jawwaly, Madded, D3M and Force Computer Services, and ensuring the lowest price while providing high quality. Our success in fulfilling our commitment is reflected by the excellent reputation that we have gained in the Saudi market.