Saudi Arabia leads the world with most new store openings for world's top retailers

Middle Eastern countries have seen a marked increase in the number of new retailers entering the region and dominated the top five countries with ranking with Kuwait in 2nd place and UAE in 4th. Serbia and Indonesia ranked 3rd and 5th respectively.

CBRE's annual study mapped the global footprint of 280 of the world's top retailers across 67 countries, exploring the globalisation of the retail industry and highlighting differences between sectors and regions, thereby identifying trends in the patterns of global retail expansion.

For the first time, the 2009 report also analyzes retail globalization at a city level, allowing for additional scrutiny of retailer expansion strategies.

Mark Morris-Jones, Director of Retail, Abu Dhabi, CB Richard Ellis Middle East, comments:

"Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has shown that it is a fast moving emerging market and has made great strides towards the establishment of the industry as a more mature player. The regional operators have shown a willingness to invest and expand, together with a retail capability that allows the brand principals to view the region as a great opportunity to expand their global presence."

Some of the world's best known brands were amongst the new retailers entering KSA and breaking down by sector, KSA had the following new openings: 16 clothing / footwear / accessories, three department stores, one furniture and textiles, two grocery / food and drink, 12 luxury and three others. KSA also leads the luxury sector openings. Its nearest rival, Kuwait, had 29 new retail openings.

Mark Morris-Jones adds: "What makes the retail market in the region so appealing is that over recent years has been the overall growth in the KSA, which has allowed for some strong sales figures and that has underpinned the introduction of new brands and the rapid expansion of outlets.

We are seeing readjustments to the market given the current conditions, and this is a factor of a maturing market, that now evaluates each location on an individual basis as part of a business strategy. This can only be good in the medium and long term, and reinforces the industry base"