Retail
From The Report: Kuwait 2016
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The retail sector in Kuwait has achieved rapid growth in recent years, with retailers benefitting from strong economic fundamentals, evolving consumer tastes and a relatively unsaturated market. These factors are set to continue underpinning further growth and diversification over the coming years.The retail market, including wholesale, was worth $5.8bn in 2013, or 3.3% of GDP. While the trend has been a positive one, growth has fluctuated in recent years. In 2009, as the global economic crisis struck, year-on-year market growth fell by 23.4% before surging back by 16.5% in 2010. Declines of 8.7% and 3% followed in 2011 and 2012, respectively, but in 2013 the market recovered again, expanding by 11.9%. The sector’s compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is forecast for 6.7% between 2013 and 2018, with the supermarket and hypermarket segment set for a CAGR of 9.6%.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Affluent and dynamic: In spite of a recent slowdown, the increasingly diverse retail market has strong long-term growth prospects
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The retail sector in Kuwait, as part of one of the world’s most prosperous societies, has achieved rapid growth in recent years, with retailers benefitting from strong economic fundamentals, evolving consumer tastes and a relatively unsaturated market. These factors are set to continue underpinning further growth and diversification over the coming years, with various segments expected to perform well, including the traditionally strong market for luxury goods, new malls and hypermarkets, and the…

Analysis

Brand appeal: The luxury segment attracts international retailers looking to gain a foothold in the region
OBG
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Kuwait’s wealthy and growing retail market continues to attract new international brands looking to capitalise on its strong outlook and relative lack of saturation. Introducing new brands helps mall owners stay ahead of the pack in an increasingly competitive market, while partnerships with experienced regional franchisers prove mutually beneficial. Kuwait is often central to global brands’ regional expansion strategies, partly because of its potential, and partly because Kuwaitis and expatriates…