Aiming to increase its foothold in the local market, Safari Hypermarket, a leading hypermarket chain in Doha, will open three more branches in Barwa Village (Al Wakra), Industrial Area and Birkat Al Awamer this year before the start of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
“There are few more stores in the pipeline to cover other parts of the country such as Al Wukair and Al Gharaffa” Shaheen Backer, Managing Director of Safari Group told The Peninsula.
He said the new outlets will be spread over an area ranging from 2,000sqm to 4,000sqm. They are specially designed to cater to the needs of the community, including citizens and expatriates of different nationalities.
Managing Director of Safari Group, Shaheen Backer
Speaking about the journey of Safari Group, Shaheen Backer said, “Our journey is truly unique because we are the first Hypermarket that took inception in Qatar, we are the first Made in Qatar hypermarket chain.
“We started with our first venture, Safari Hypermarket at Salwa road in 2005. Currently, we have four outlets operating in different parts of Qatar in Abu Hamour, Salwa, Umm Salal and Al Khor. Operating retail chain in the country is an amazing experience because of the rapidly advancing economy and the market challenges that comes with it.
“We, at Safari are proud to be a well-known household name that started a different trend in the market offering lower prices, that helped us to accommodate more customers who could shop with us at reasonable and affordable prices.”
To a question about the demand for perishable and non perishable items at Safari outlets, Shaheen said, “Demand dropped drastically upto 40% during COVID- 19 pandemic, but with restrictions lifted, the demand is increasing gradually.”
He recalled that Safari outlets ran many promotions even during the pandemic such as Go Green, Kitchen Fest, Rice Festival and Flower Garden to keep the customers engaged and involved with the brand whilst providing the customers an interesting experience with these fests.
“We also introduced new offers like “Win 50 million My Safari Club Card Point”, Half Value Back, Safari Digital Dream and 10,20,30.
Shaheen said that “Safari promotions attract a large number of customers through its various offers because through these offers customers feel included and celebrated. We take into consideration the needs of our customers, we run promotions and offers based on different nationalities being mindful of the festivals they celebrate, the holidays they enjoy and so on. We also make sure to provide our customers a visual experience by adding theme based props throughout our stores during offers and promotions around festivities. This reminds our customers we are thinking of them and they are with us in our journey forward. Irresistible pricing options and amazing offers are an added bonus to the complete shopping experience.”
He conveyed that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry represented by the Consumer Protection Department is strictly monitoring the promotions offered by all the commercial outlets through a completely effective mechanism in order to curb any fake promotion.
To another question about the sources of import, Shaheen said hat Safari Hypermarket is importing foods and non-food items from different parts of the world including India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Holland, Turkey, Ukraine, China and Thailand.
He added having a wide range of options equips us better to serve the different needs of our customers.
Being a leading retailer of consumer goods in Qatar, Safari understands that quality is a balanced composition of quantity, safety and service. Safari ensures that they procure products only from trusted manufacturers and they are filtered through several layers of safety and quality inspection before they reach the end customer.
