RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's burgeoning home appliances market, expected to grow by 40 percent during the next five-year period, will create huge employment opportunities for young Saudis in retail services, said a high-ranking official of a multinational company. Speaking to reporters at the inauguration of a new showroom here recently, Neelesh Bhatnagar, CEO of E-max, said Saudi Arabia's home appliances retail sector has an annual turnover of SR20 billion and is set to offer employment opportunities for some thousands of young Saudis. Abdullah A. Al-Ahmed, chief administrative officer, and Suresh Srinivas, national marketing manager of Al-Bandar International House for Trading Company, the owners of chain of outlets that include Centrepoint, Home Center, Splash, Citymax, E-max and Koton were also present. Bhatnagar said under its expansion plan, Al-Bandar Trading International is to open a number of home appliances retail showroom in Saudi Arabia's smaller cities during the next few years. About three to four E-max showrooms to be opened in smaller cities during the next two- year period will alone create some 600 to 700 employment opportunities for young Saudis, he said. “The penetration rate of home appliances that offer advanced features such as air-conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators, LED and LCD television sets, and laptops or other similar devices is very low, as compared to the buying capacity of Saudis. “This prompts a growth of between 35 to 40 percent in retail home appliance market,” said Bhatnagar. He also announced an elaborate HR training programs aimed at training young Saudis in retail services such as salesmen, supervisor, administration and other related jobs that will be created in the near future. “We will train young Saudis in retail services. The Saudis can either get job opportunities either to work in showrooms in 26 various cities or free to find employments in other retail outlets,” he said. He said Saudi Arabia is a vast country and smaller cities such as Hail, Tabuk, Abha, Baha and Buraida offer huge business potential for home appliances market. E-max is a departmental store that showcases between 60,000 and 70,000 products from 200 international brands is planning to open a Saudi pavilion with products that are made in Saudi Arabia. “We know that Saudi Arabia is turning out to be a manufacturing hub of various electrical products in the Middle East. Our idea is to expose the Saudi manufacturers to compete with international brands with both quality and affordability of prices,” he said.
