JEDDAH: Middle East has emerged as a key market for retailers across the world. Retail has been one of the fastest growing industries in the region for the past few years. Moreover, with changing market dynamics, rapid economic development, balancing crude oil prices, rising purchasing power, and strong consumer confidence, the market is expected to surge at a CAGR of 13 percent during 2009-2013, RNCOS said in its study on the region's retail market. "The favorable government policy frameworks and active participation of private sector have facilitated the region's retail industry to become one of the world's most desirable retail environments in terms of investments and revenue generation, " the study said. Moreover, factors, such as changing consumer demographics in countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, presence of large expatriate population, improving purchasing power, and abundance of petro dollar have attracted premium and luxury brands to the region. The report titled "Middle East Retail Sector Forecast to 2013", RNCOS has identified Saudi Arabia and the UAE as the most potential and dynamic retail markets in the region. These two markets have been sustaining their dominance at the retail landscape for over a decade and will continue to do so in coming years. Presence of large expatriate population and majority of region's retail investment in these countries have helped to maintain the growth momentum, it added.
