Carrefour and Lulu Hypermarket

introduction

The companies under analysis are Carrefour and Lulu hypermarket, which are two major players in Dubai. Carrefour is an international hypermarket chain headquartered in France and one of the world's largest. In fact, it possesses 1395 hypermarkets worldwide. It is the second largest in terms of revenue and third in terms of profits after Wal-Mart and Tesco, two major players in the United States. Carrefour enjoys an attractive location portfolio. It is present in important markets Europe, China, Argentina and Brazil. It has shops, which are smaller than the standard European hypermarkets in Asia and North Africa such as Morocco and Tunisia. The second company under analysis is Lulu hypermarket, which is owned by EMKE Group, based in Abu Dhabi, but originated from Kerala. They are mostly located in Outlets where other shops such as foreign exchange parlors, minor clothing stores and electronics stores such as Jumbo are present. They are only located in the Middle East in countries like UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Yemen and Qatar. Lulu accommodates approximately 420,000 shoppers a day in each of its store, which makes it very popular in the GCC.Methodology

Carrefour's and Lulu Hypermarket's customers were observed on a Thursday evening at the Barsha locations of each store. The Barsha area in Dubai is central to the posh areas of the city namely Jumeirah, Dubai Marina, Emirates Hills. Also, Barsha itself is populated by local emiratis and expats from all levels of income and has the advantage of being within the vicinity of the lowest, labor class area such as the Al Quoz Industrial Area, all the way to upper class areas like Emirates Hills. Due to the multicultural and multiclass nature of this area, the observations noted at these locations can safely be considered as a good mix of a representation of consumers in Dubai.

The consumers shopping in each of these stores were analyzed in terms of their gender, age group, nationality, basket size, product categories being purchased, criteria for buying and their profession. Since these customers were not actually interviewed and were just observed, their age group, nationality and professions are educated guesses based on their appearance, language they were speaking and their attire. Criteria for buying is determined by watching a customer choose between products; some would know exactly which product they wanted which shows brand preference, some would look at different companies offering the same products and compare prices with their partners demonstrating a price criteria, some would read the fine writing of several products showing a quality preference. Similarly, some customers displayed a preference for price and quality together, and some for price and brand. Literature review

Carrefour and Lulu are considered to be hypermarkets that include many shopping categories. Customers are