Designer clothes are being sold for as much as SR50 more in Saudi Arabia than in Europe. Industry sources say this is because only a handful of companies own 70 percent of clothes shops in the Saudi market. The Consumer Protection Association (CPA) has now promised that it will investigate the matter and report any malpractice to the authorities. One of the top clothing companies owns 20 percent of the big clothes shops in the Kingdom and monopolizes tens of brands. Last year its profits hit SR800 million and it is now one of the largest companies in the Kingdom. Sales director Saleh Al-Zahrani insists the huge profits can be attributed to the large number of shops the company has in different cities and the brands it offers to customers. “The headquarters is the one responsible for pricing and all prices are the same in all shops. Sometimes they differ slightly when discounts are on offer.” Al-Zahrani has noticed over the past two years that the local market charges SR50 more for an item of clothing than in the European markets. “Customers have begun to complain a lot about this increase but it's justified because of the high costs of shipping and customs.” Clothes shop owner Muhammad Al-Sheikh said: “The price of clothes in the local market was cheaper than European markets four years ago but today things have changed and prices are higher than Europe, despite the fact that they're the same clothes and brands.” Economist Nadheer Al-Abdallah has criticized companies that falsely attribute the high prices to shipping and customs costs, despite making huge profits. “These companies are greedy. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry should investigate how these companies have earned such large amounts of money although they are only retail businesses. They import clothes; they do not manufacture them,” he said, according to a report in Al-Hayat newspaper. He called upon the ministry to pass anti-greed laws and impose penalties on violators to protect local markets from inflation. “Most big European companies have factories in East Asian countries for cheap labor. Yet local markets sell clothes that are made in India and Bangladesh for prices that are as much as SR50 higher than the same items in European markets.” The President of the Consumer Protection Association (CPA), Dr. Nasser Al-Tweam, has vowed that his organization will look into the matter and report any corruption to the appropriate authorities. He pointed out that if global brands are produced in Asian countries, they should be cheaper than in Europe because the Kingdom is closer to these countries than Europe is. Dr. Al-Tweam called upon “merchants to be honest and to take into consideration the interest of citizens by charging moderate prices that do not cause harm to the consumers.”
