On Wednesday, 13th October 2021, United Arab Emirates-based investor, Majid Al Futtaim, announced that through his supermarket brand Carrefour will be taking over all Ugandan retail stores operated by Shoprite Checkers Uganda Ltd, as they exit the country.
Majid al Futtaim, a renowned investor in shopping malls, communities, retail, and leisure across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, announced he had concluded an agreement with Shoprite to take over all their store locations and rebrand.
According to the agreement, Shoprite will by the end of the year, lease its six stores in Uganda to Majid Al Futtaim, who currently operates two stores in Uganda at Naalya Metroplex and Oasis mall. The six stores to be taken over include Acacia Mall, Village Mall, Victoria Mall, Lugogo Mall, Clock Tower, and Arena Mall.
As part of the agreement, the Lugogo Mall and Clock Tower properties which are owned by Shoprite will also transfer to Majid Al Futtaim, who launched the first Carrefour store in Uganda in December 2019 at Oasis Mall, Kampala, and in March 2021 opened its second store in Naalya.
Hani Weiss, the Chief Executive at Majid Al Futtaim Retail says that on implementation of the agreement, the UAE investor will expand its footprint to eight Carrefour stores. Weiss says that their acquisition of Shoprite will boost their vision of expanding in the region “for the long term.”
“We welcome the opportunity to bring our unique Carrefour offering of unbeatable value, range, international standards to more customers across Uganda”, commented Weiss.
Shoprite announced three weeks ago its plans to exit Uganda and Madagascar, having earlier withdrawn from Nigeria and Kenya. In the notice to the shareholders, the company said it was refocusing its business interests to Southern African countries, where it made more business sense.
“This agreement represents our continued investment in East Africa. We look forward to strengthening our offering in the region and supporting local talent through employment and career development opportunities.”
Shoprite’s exit followed that of Kenya’s Nakumatt and Uchumi supermarkets which left billions of Shillings worth of debts to suppliers, workers’ salaries, and rent arrears.
Amongst the widely cited reasons for these exits are a failure by the supermarkets to respond to customer preferences, low salaried and therefore dissatisfied workers, as well as stocking imported groceries which were in fact more expensive than local products.
Carrefour however says it currently provides 20,000 products across its stores, of which 98 percent are locally sourced. Other services include Installment payments on devices and electric appliances and online shopping for its customers through partnerships with Glovo and Jumia Food.
Majid Al Futtaim operates over 375 Carrefour stores in 17 countries, serving more than 750,000 customers daily and employing over 37,000 colleagues.
Across Carrefour’s stores, Majid Al Futtaim says it sources over 80 percent of the products offered from the region, making it a key enabler in supporting local producers, suppliers, families, and economies.
With this fast-tracked and major expansion happening at once, we can only wish Carrefour the best of luck.