Fresh & More, a supermarket chain with 14 outlets in different parts of the UAE will open five new supermarkets in Sharjah and two more outlets in Dubai as part of its local, regional and international expansion plans.

Speaking about the expansion plans, despite slight concerns about the market situation, Zakaria Challakara, General Manager, Fresh and More said that the retail network which started in 2014 has established 14 outlets in strategic locations in Abu Dhabi, and Fujiarah and plans to expand to Dubai and Sharjah.

“Fresh products and more value is our tagline and we plan to open the Sharjah outlets with a  big promotion offering kilogram of gold as prize money in addition to other instant and regular promotions. We want to bring the same shopping experience that we offer to our customers in Abu Dhabi and Fujarah to Sharjah. Now the time has come for us spread our wings and we see a tremendous potential to serve customers in Sharjah. “We are trying to give the hypermarket feel in our convenient stores and enriching the customers experience in hypermarket. One of the two bigger markets is coming up in Karama,” he said.

The new Sharjah outlets are planned in Al Manaka, Abu Shagara, two outlets in National paint, Al Nahda and Al Musalla areas. Some of the existing branches are being restructured and resized to meet the current market trend and the group is planning a major foray into the international market by planning to open more outlets in other GCC countries as well as in Africa, a market not tapped by many retails.

Fresh and More Group which started with one outlet in Mussafa Industrial Area, Abu Dhabi is now present in Shabia, Abu Dhabi, Shakbuth City and Fujiarah. The new outlets are being opened in Musalla and Muwaila area of Sharjah.  PM Abdulla, Marketing Manager said the group has been doing extensive research to identify new and potential store locations. He said the new outlets will be opened with bundled offers, killer prizing, weekend and daily promotions as well as gold promotions schemes.

Abraham Varghese, Marketing Manager, Fresh and More said supermarket and hypermarket chains are undertaking major changes in their strategy to reach customers by opting for smaller and convenient neighbourhood stores . “We are still studying the market in the GCC and some African countries where there is big scope for supermarkets offering value to customers. Some cities in Africa still need more supermarkets and hypermarkets and we are currently studying the market,” said Abraham, without divulging details of the future investment plans.

“Neighbourhood convenient stores are sometimes more economical in some areas because instead of having 200 staff and other facilities, we can manage one store with 20 staff. Convenient stores in the residential neighbourhood is being seriously considered for our futtrue expansion,” he said. The Group also plans to tap the E-commerce platforms for its future expansion plans.