The Nigerian operator of Spanish supermarket chain, Distribuidora
Internacional de Alimentacion SA (DIA), plans to open more than 100
stores by 2020 to take advantage of rising spending in Africa’s most
populous country.
First Master Retailers Limited (FMR), the Nigerian company that bought
the local rights to operate DIA stores, could open as many as 25 CityDia
shops a rights it's Chief Operating Officer, Samuel Abiola-Jacobs, told
Bloomberg in an interview in Lagos. FMR opened its first CityDia store
in the city on Saturday and is opening a second there in the next few
days, he said.
DIA-branded shops are in emerging markets including China, Brazil and
Argentina. Nigeria is the third African market to have the company’s
stores after Ivory Coast and Senegal, which has about 60, and is the
Madrid-based brand’s first foray into an English-speaking country.
“Senegal in three years has grown to over 60 spots and they haven’t
even gone throughout all Senegal, so you can see the potential is
massive,” Abiola-Jacobs said. “Given how populated we are here and the
growth of consumerism in Nigeria, we’re expected to do even better.”
DIA isn’t as optimistic about the outlook for store openings as First
Master Retailers, a spokeswoman said by phone from Madrid on Wednesday.
FMR is an independent company supplied by DIA, she said.
International retailers have struggled to establish themselves in
Nigeria, which has a population of about 180 million, due to high
property costs and difficulties transporting products to stores. Cape
Town-based Woolworths Holdings Limited announced the closure of its
three stores in the country two years ago, while Shoprite Holdings
Limited, South Africa’s biggest food retailer, and Amsterdam-based Spar
International are among the few foreign food retailers operating in the
country.
More than 95 percent of shopping purchases in Nigeria are still made in
open-air markets, creating an opportunity for retailers to thrive as
consumers switch to formal stores, according to Abiola-Jacobs.
“When you go into emerging markets and lower income areas, you have a
number of people, maybe six or eight, living in one household, so what
you need to look at is the combined spending power, rather than the
individual spending power,” he said. “When you combine it, you find that
there’s good purchasing power.”
Credit: This Day
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