Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. said Thursday it is reorganizing its global
sourcing structure to reduce costs, accelerate speed to market and
improve the quality of products.
The initiative is part of parent company Walmart's new global
sourcing strategy, which includes creating global merchandising centers,
changing leadership and structure, and forming a strategic alliance
with global sourcing company Li & Fung.
A local Halal grocery store in the UK is upping its standards on hygiene, and separating the butcher side of the business from the grocery section for less risk of contamination. They still have to compete with the superstores, but this investment in making their Halal store a hygenic and well organised environment is important for the reputation of Halal in the UK. Young Muslims are looking for these clean modern Halal stores to shop in nowadays.
The issues surrounding marketing to the American Muslim consumer are clearly not simple for retailers and marketers. While the collective spending power of the Muslim community is impressive, there are obvious risks associated with reaching out directly. The L A Times article reckons that "Happy Eid" wont be joining "Merry Xmas" - or even "Happy Hanukkah" any time soon.
Anchorage is now home to nearly 4,000 Muslims, up from a hundred or so when Lamin Jobarteh, who hails from the West African nation of Gambia arrived in Alaska to attend graduate school in the 1990s. After watching the growing community order bulk shipments of Halal meat and speciality groceries from Seattle and Vancouver for years, Jobarteh left his career as a business banker and has now opened 'Alaska's First Halal Grocery'.
The Belgian fast-food chain Quick is experimenting with halal
restaurants in France. The branches will only serve
products which comply with the Islamic food requirements. Since
mid-December, eight Quicks in France changed over completely to halal
food: Toulouse, Marseille (2), Roubaix, Villeurbanne, Argenteuil,
Garges-lès-Gonesse and Buchelay.
Sales of halal foie gras have increased ten-fold in the last two
years, delighting supermarket chains across France. "It is one of our
bestsellers, we were selling more than 30 a day" said the manager of a
Parisian branch of Carrefour, while a spokesman for a leading meat
wholesalers announced that demand for halal duck and halal capon has
been "unprecedented" in 2009.
Carrefour is positioning itself to emerge as the top foreign hypermarket operator in Malaysia. When asked about the market penetration of Malaysia's
halal products to other regional markets, Marketing and Communications Director for Malaysia and Singapore Low
Ngai Yuen said said Malaysia was
respected, globally, as a leading halal products manufacturer.
Posted in:
Asia,
UK,
Retail
Malaysian halal food
products will soon be available on the shelves of 180 Tesco stores in
Britain when four small-and-medium (SME) enterprise suppliers ship
RM600,000 worth of items, beginning Jan 11.
Tesco Malaysia Chief Executive Officer Chris Bush said the export of
halal food products by these suppliers to Tesco UK was part of Tesco
Malaysia's programme to promote Malaysian exports to the British market.
Interest
is growing among companies that want to offer products for the Muslim
market because trade in halal products is growing not only in Germany
and Europe but worldwide, with Muslims projected to be 30 per cent of
the world population by 2025. The
largest halal markets are in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Middle East. In Europe, Germany, France and Britain are the largest.
Posted in:
UK,
Europe,
Retail
Artists impression of the new Halal supermarket
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A former motor store which has become an eyesore since it closed more
than a decade ago is set to be turned into a £3 million Asian
superstore. It is a sign of the times, and another indication of the vibrant role that the Muslim community continue to play in the UK economy. It is also an indication of the strengthening of the Halal consumer market in Europe in general.
