RIYADH, 14 December 2006 — The Landmark Group — one of the fastest growing business conglomerates in the Middle East — on Monday launched the Emax Big Box store, the region’s largest multi-branded consumer electronics store in Sharjah, UAE. The conglomerate also announced an ambitious plan to roll out 12 outlets in Saudi Arabia by the end of next year.
Speaking on the occasion via telephone, Mickey Jagtiani, CEO of Landmark Group, said “the group has been at the forefront creating some of the most unique concepts in retailing in this region.” The new 135,000 sq ft three-floor store on King Faisal Street in Sharjah is a model as it “has the widest range of electronic and digital products with over 300 brands and 100,000 electronic, digital and electrical products on display,” he pointed out.
Jagtiani noted that the Big Box concept aims to revolutionize retailing technology with its unique business model that combines the best brands, overwhelming product diversity, a range of never-before-customer-friendly-services and astonishing prices. “We are certain that this concept will be a trendsetter in consumer electronics retailing market in the region,” he added.
The store in Sharjah is manned by 100 multilingual staff who have undergone “rigorous product and service training to help customers make a choice,” said Neelesh Bhatnagar, executive director of Landmark Group.
Bhatnagar said the new retailing concept in the region, which is prevalent in the Western countries, was a result of the “changing demography.” He disclosed plans to open at least eight more Big Box stores across GCC cities in the very near future, which will include Riyadh, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Muscat, Jeddah, Alkhobar and Bahrain, adding that two Emax stores have already been opened in Saudi Arabia.
Bhatnagar further said that Emax Big Box will raise the bar for electronics retailing and customer expectations for range and quality of service.
Deepak Srivastava, Emax’s concept head, added that “Emax Big Box concept ensures that the customer has a single destination for everything related to infotainment, range and services. To sum up, Emax is all about range, service and price”. The store layout and easy accessibility are designed to offer customers comfort, ease and convenience while shopping for their needs, Srivastava added. There are a host of other services like buying tips and conversion from video to DVD.
Moreover, customers at Emax can enjoy other benefits like protection against theft and damage, “extremely quick process installment schemes”, convenient shop-and-ship services, product delivery and installation by professionally-trained crew, he further said.
