Impact of culture on the consumer behaviour in middle east retail industry: A study of product adaptation of the international brands franchised by MH Alshaya for the middle-east market

Abstract

M H Alshaya is one most successful retail franchise operators, bringing the best brands in the world to markets and customers in the middle-east, North Africa, Turkey, Russia and Europe.1 It employs over 44000 people from 110 nationalities. The brands operated by the company can be categorized into seven divisions namely, Fashion & Footwear, Food, Health and Beauty, Pharmacy, Optics, Home Furnishing and Leisure & Entertainment (Exhibit 1). Taking products form foreign markets to a more conservative and rapidly evolving environment with changing personal tastes needs a clear understanding of the consumer behavior. The marketers at Alshaya working with respective brands face the challenge of customizing the products and services so as to meet the needs of customers in these markets. Standardization helps in achieving economies of scale for the brands. However, a decision is taken whether adapting to the local culture with product alteration and localized marketing would help, depending on the market in which the brand is entering. This report consists analysis of major brands like Starbucks, H&M, Harvey Nichols, Debenhams, Boots etc. on how management at Alshaya along with the brand managers from the parent company have adopted different types of globalization. The literature review in the next section elaborates on the seven patterns of globalization [1].