Consumer & Retail

Rising food-commodity costs, global shipping volatility, and currency fluctuations are compressing retail margins just as consumers demand sharper prices and seamless omnichannel experiences. Best-in-class procurement—global cleansheet costing, multicurrency hedging, and category playbooks—liberates cash that can be reinvested in same-day delivery, store digitisation, and private-label innovation. Retailers that master cost bases today can out-promote competitors tomorrow. 

 

National governments are tying shelf space and licences to in-Kingdom value. Saudi Arabia’s localisation scorecards and the UAE’s National ICV program increasingly influence tender evaluations, import permits, and even shelf-listing fees for multinationals. Embedding local-content criteria in supplier scorecards, developing domestic co-manufacturing, and partnering with regional agritech ventures can secure preferential treatment and faster regulatory approvals—turning compliance into an engine of brand loyalty and speed-to-market. 

 

Supply-chain resilience is non-negotiable after pandemic disruptions and Red-Sea rerouting. Market leaders diversify origin mix for high-volume SKUs, negotiate regional hub-and-spoke logistics, and deploy AI demand-sensing to prevent stock-outs during Eid peaks or Mega Sales. Overlay these moves with a crisp operating model—digitised PO approvals, vendor-managed inventory dashboards, and live KPI scorecards—and procurement shifts from firefighting to growth enablement.