Kuwaiti triumph
Kuwaiti triumph Written by Nell Walker Produced by Dennis Morales
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Noor Al-Qatami, CEO of Kuwait’s number one supermarket, describes her team’s tireless work in creating the best possible shopping experience for its valued clients
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aveco, Kuwait’s biggest and most successful supermarket, is a true success story. Founded by Noor Al-Qatami, the company’s CEO, just two years ago, the store’s popularity has proven astronomical in an impressively short amount of time. Al-Qatami was determined to develop the brand quickly as a reaction to customer needs, and marry the twin ideals of highquality with accessible produce.
Customer relations Organic, vegan, gluten-free, and many luxury items that are not readily available to the average Kuwaiti citizen can be found at Saveco, to the point where shoppers are able to dictate what Saveco sells. “We decided to develop a system where customers can come in and request an item; we then order it for the store, and it is then put on the shelf for other customers as well,” says AlQatami. “It’s a more specialised service for the
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customer, where they feel they are being treated like a VIP. This is not just a supermarket, it is their own store; a store that they have a say in.” This special treatment of customers is key to the company’s success. Saveco has an unusually large social media presence, and the CEO herself handles the accounts, allowing customers to speak to somebody who is multi-lingual and enabling Al-Qatami to connect with them on a more personal level than
most bosses would. “The reason I wanted it to do it this way was because when I looked at social media accounts in Kuwait, they were always neglecting the customer,” she explains. “I wanted to have a relationship with our customers. I can answer people back in their own language or dialect, and they go away feeling extremely content. It’s satisfying for everybody involved, and ensures that the customer returns to us.”
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Saveco also offers a delivery middle of the store which allows system that can be used via customers to learn new skills in the WhatsApp; Al-Qatami says that kitchen. Young school children can people in Kuwait generally prefer book sessions of cooking or cake messenger services as they dislike decoration, but the system is aimed talking, either on the telephone very much at adults. or face-to-face, when it comes to “In Kuwait, most people don’t ordering from stores. cook as they have chefs in Customers have the their homes,” Al-Qatami option of simply sending explains. “They wouldn’t an image of what they know what to do with want to Saveco staff, quinoa, for example. We or even asking to see decided that if they wanted what range of a certain to get on the bandwagon product the shop has, and eat quinoa, why not at which point images teach them? They are Number of would be sent to them in coming in and buying the Employees at order to let them choose product, so they really Saveco the item they desire. The should learn different ways messenger service is of incorporating it into free, as is the delivery itself. their meals. Kuwait has the highest obesity rate per capita; we have a The Food Academy responsibility of helping people eat One of Saveco’s most impressive healthier meals.” features is The Food Academy, Al-Qatami identified gaps a cooking school located in the in the food market and filled
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Noor Al-Qatami - CEO
them, for example by conferring with a coeliac organisation to develop a gluten-free section. The Saveco team even went so far as to reorganise the aisles to bring the gluten-free products closer to the door, allowing coeliac children to choose a snack quickly rather than being faced with all of the food they can’t eat. The shop then also offers a kids’ area on the top floor so that they can play while parents shop in peace.
Building a family Al-Qatami admits that finding staff was difficult at the beginning, because nobody knew how successful the business would be. Two years later, Saveco has become a family, and Al-Qatami believes this to be one of the most important elements of the company:
“They are not merely employees,” she states. “Once they pass their three month probation, we take care of them, not just through work but everything else as well. For example, when one of our employees passed away, our COO flew with the body to the man’s homeland to be at the burial. We made sure the burial and reception fees were covered, and continued to pay his salary to ensure his kids are supported. We try to go above and beyond for our staff.”
A man’s world? Al-Qatami has by no means achieved what she wants. Her vision of what she wishes to accomplish is not even five percent there, she says; she plans to make Saveco international, and develop into the retail business. She is among the top 100 most powerful Arab women, and attributes this to attitudes instilled in her by her parents. Her father, a successful
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businessman himself, never told her to come to me. Things are she was different because of her changing here; women aren’t gender, and encouraged her in her having to fight as hard, and they ventures – whether they failed or are part of every element of the succeeded. Al-Qatami conducted working world. The CEO of the a TEDx Talk last year during which top bank in the Middle East is a she described her woman. background and “Some parents triumphant career, and in Kuwait treat she showed enormous females differently good humour in the face to males; they will of those who judged her open doors for for her gender. their sons that “Women often put they wouldn’t barriers in front of open for their The year themselves simply by daughters. My saveco was thinking of themselves dad taught founded as different from me that if you men,” she says. “If work for it, you acknowledge that there is no you will get what you difference, then there is no barrier. It want. He believes in doesn’t make a difference to me if me, and that was someone realises I’m the boss or one of the most vital not, because the bottom line is if elements to my they want to do business, they have success.”
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+965 2228 7700 4th Ring Road, Block 1 building 18 A, Nurseries Area Al-Rai, Kuwait, 1821050 www.saveco.com