Excellence in Retail awarded to Tim Horton's, Tommy Hilfiger and Club Apparel

Companies and brands that have achieved creditworthy performance and raised the bar with their outstanding innovation and pioneering initiatives during the past year were given due recognition at the much coveted award ceremony on 5th December 2012 held in Dubai.

Tim Hortons is a Canadian café that specializes in coffee and doughnuts. It also serves an array of other bakes and sandwiches. It is being franchised in the Middle East by the Apparel Group. Tim Hortons took the Middle East by storm with its innovative marketing strategy and its stupendous launch campaign in the UAE.

Tim Hortons has been honored for the creative execution of the new concept and for the success of the campaign with two trophies, one each for the 'Most Admired Marketing Campaign of the Year and for Most Admired Retail Launch of the Year". This award is a maiden recognition from the formidable "Images RetailME Awards" and a proud feather in the cap of Tim Hortons and consequently to the Apparel group, UAE. This award highlights new retailers, brands and concepts across any category which entered the market with a high visibility launch campaign and in a short time became a brand of choice among shoppers.

Tommy Hilfiger was declared as the 'Most Admired Retailer of the Year - Fashion'. Tommy Hilfiger is one of the world's leading designer fashion brands that is synonymous with the all American classically cool and casually smart look. The styles are crisp yet easy to don, with no fuss whatsoever and are instantly comfortable. The wide range of designs appeals to a diverse cross-section of consumers globally. The sophisticated simplicity and understated elegance are such that with Tommy Hilfiger in your wardrobe, you can never go wrong with what your wear. This award recognizes retail fashion brands for store positioning and layout, merchandising, offering outstanding quality, a wide selection and an extraordinary shopping experience brought to the Middle East.

Images RetailME 2012 awarded Club Apparel with the prestigious 'Most Admired Retailer - Customer Relationship Management', for the second consecutive year. Club Apparel is an innovative initiative of a cardless loyalty program from the Apparel Group which comprises of 40 brands and 300 stores across the UAE. Club Apparel offers the ability to purchase goods on accumulated points at any Apparel Group participating stores. With the given range of products and the vast number of stores combined with strategic business partnerships and attractive offers, Club Apparel introduced the UAE customers to a tempting win with ease reward program. These strong commitments to customer service and demonstrated strides towards service excellence have won the trust and loyalty of a large and consistently growing customer base.

Mr. Nilesh Ved, Chairman and Founder of Apparel Group said, "It's a proud moment for me to witness two of our prestigious brands, Tim Horton's and Tommy Hilfiger, along with Club Apparel, our customer centric Rewards Program sweep away four awards for excellence at the Images RetailME awards 2012. It is the team's continuous innovation, dynamic business strategies and relentless efforts to exceed the existing benchmarks and surprise customers with our products, services and our presence in convenient locations that has been instrumental in bringing these trophies to the Group. This recognition, once again, reaffirms the commitment of the Apparel Group towards continued excellence in the retail business."