LuLu Group bags prestigious Dubai Business and Service Excellence Awards

The LuLu Group’s flagship retail enterprise, LuLu Hypermarket, has won the much-acclaimed Dubai Service Excellence Scheme (DSES) Award 2021. The brand becomes the only hypermarket to win this accolade, which was recognised for excellence in multiple criteria. The winner of this award is selected after rigorous inspections, mystery shopping, customer surveys and extensive research over a period of one year, across various parameters such as customer service, cleanliness, hygiene, staff behaviour, and safety measures among others.

The win is a clear recognition of the LuLu Group’s excellence as a commercial enterprise and the ability of the company’s leadership led by Chairman and Managing Director Yusuff Ali MA to inspire growth and progress as the leitmotif of the group’s success story.

Speaking to the Khaleej Times, LuLu Group Director Salim MA said that the award is a reflection of the dedication, hard work and customer acceptance of more than 1,600,000 customers who shop everyday at LuLu around the world. "We are proud of our employees whose work ethic and value system encapsulate the LuLu brand promise and of our customers who trust us to provide an unparalleled shopping experience that tops the quality and customer satisfaction charts," Salim said. "The LuLu corporate vision emphasises a sustainable lifestyle ecosystem within each and every part of the organisation and its customer base and this has made us an integral part of every home and family whom we touch."

Shaun Gerard Morrison, Retail Operations Manager, underscored how the LuLu workplace reflects the diversity of the global market. "As a major importer in the region, we offer customers access to a wide range of products and commodities across the world, through our own sources in Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia and India, which can pose challenges in language, logistics, etc. It is the diversity of our workforce which comes from 42 nations and the ideas and cultural approaches which they bring and implement in our workplace, knit together by the one unified purpose of best customer service that allows us to seamlessly achieve our goals."

Setting a Wider Footprint

The Group has pursued an aggressive expansion plan in 2020-21 despite the pandemic slowdown of the economy and Chairman Yusuff Ali said that this stemmed from faith and confidence in the visionary leadership of the UAE. "As the UAE marches towards its economic strategies for another 50-year progress, we will further strengthen our expansion plans and business investments to help support the ecosystem of businesses in this country and across the entire region. We are proud to be a part of the UAE's overall development, and will continue to support sustainable development strategies. I believe that it is the duty of all business organisations to continue their expansion plans and growth activities. This will help the economy recover faster, in order for us to get back to our normal life sooner," he added.

He also commended the Dubai government's meticulous recovery plan and bold Expo 2020 projects, which will once again bring the world to Dubai now that the pandemic is under control, thanks to the city’s efficient vaccination drive.

More Feathers to the Cap

In 2020, the Group also won the Dubai Government's Quality Award for Business Excellence 2020, which is also given to various other sectors and government departments. The Dubai Quality Awards are presented under the supervision of an expert jury, which examines a number of conditions in accordance with the European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence Model.

LuLu was one of the key retailers in the region, which played a very key role in ensuring food security and availability during the COVID lockdown time and was honored with the top award "Most Admired Retailer" in the Middle East, at the Middle East Retail Forum (MRF) 2020 in Dubai.

Earlier this year, LuLu Group reinforced its position among the world's Top 200 Retailers, locking in at No. 146 of Deloitte's annual Top Global Retailers List 2021. "In achieving business excellence, we are lucky to have group values in place, which is essentially the secret of our success. We continually attempt to serve our customers better and bring to them a wide range of products covering food and non-food products, fresh produce, healthy range, fashion, lifestyle collections, and much more consumer essentials from international supply sources, including their home country products," added Salim.

A Legend in the Making

The group is a highly diversified conglomerate with an annual turnover in excess of $7.4 billion. What started as a food trading enterprise is today a full-fledged retail operation retail footprint with 214 hypermarkets, express stores, and shopping malls, spanning 10 countries including GCC, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Malaysia, LuLu also has major interest in sourcing and food production business with operations in the US, the UK, Spain, Africa, India, Far East and China.

The group received great honours earlier this year, as the iconic Burj Khalifa Tower was illuminated in the LuLu brand colours to mark the opening of the 200th-milestone store in Cairo, Egypt. Currently, the group has a presence in 22 countries across the Middle East, Asia, the US, the UK and Europe with a staff force of more than 57,000.