Diverse range of services to continue: Al Meera CEO

“The first part of our diversification is directly related to food retail, mainly fresh products, which is why we are trying is forge partnerships with the best suppliers in order to provide a very good level of service to our customers,” said chief executive officer Guy Sauvage.

Sauvage said the company, through its subsidiary Al Meera Bookstore, has also expanded its market reach by launching WH Smith Bookstores in Doha.

“We are diversifying towards new retail businesses such as the WH Smith Bookstore, so we have opened these stores in response to requests from our customers,” he said, adding that Al Meera Bookstore is the exclusive franchise owner of the WH Smith brand in the country.

Sauvage said that it was because of the lack of bookstores that Al Meera sought the partnership of WH Smith Bookstore. “We have identified this a few years back and we decided to look for the proper partner that can answer our customers’ requests,” he said.

He said Al Meera has existing partnerships with Thailand-based furniture company Index Living Mall (ILM) and with Saudi Arabian electronics retailer, eXtra.

“In addition, we have a partnership with French company Casino Group and through our joint venture with them we have access to a wide range of products from Asia and Europe,” said Sauvage, referring to Al Meera’s Geant Hypermarket.

But while Al Meera maintains different levels of suppliers, Sauvage noted the main part of the company’s purchases remains local.

“We have a very dynamic wholesale and supplier network in Qatar and we can find a lot of (local) products for our assortments,” he said, citing companies like Bakemark and Qbake.