You Need it, We’ve Got It!
A bustling retail outlet, Nakumatt boasts a chain of
superstores in strategic locations delivering quality, value, service,
variety and lifestyle that’s true to its marketing mantra — You Need it, We’ve Got It!
Nakumatt is committed to providing a variety of
affordable quality brands as well as excellent and superior quality
service to its customers. It prides itself on conforming to local and
international laws, policies and regulations governing business. The
company endeavours to build on developing skills in its employees and
maintaining customer satisfaction through continuously understanding
their needs, improving their lifestyles and delivering value.
Nakumatt has now expanded to the wider East African
region with ultramodern supermarkets, raising the branch tally to 32
outlets. Nakumatt City Centre UTC Mall in Kigali, Rwanda and Nakumatt
Uganda Limited is in keeping with its promise to extend its market
reach. In addition it has opened doors to six of its new branches in
Diani in Mombasa, Nanyuki, Kakamega, Eldoret, Langata and Kiambu.
Its passion for retail excellence has steered the
provision of the largest variety and highest quality of local and
international brands at reasonable and uniform prices in the region.
These come with unmatched service by warm, friendly and always helpful
staff, in a modern ambience of a pleasant shopping experience. Ample and
secure parking and an exciting customer rewards programme for shoppers
with the Nakumatt Smart Card continuously enhance lifestyles and deliver
value.
A key element of Nakumatt is its customer focus and
continual improvement. Nakumatt’s top management has given its
commitment through a quality policy statement: “Nakumatt Holdings
Limited is committed to providing a variety of affordable, quality
brands as well as excellent and superior quality service to our
customers”.
Nakumatt have distinguished themselves on a strategic
differentiating aspect system that incorporates corporate governance and
social investments. Its corporate governance is championed across the
company and involves the directors, management and staff.
On the social investment front, a KSh150 million CSR
budget has enabled Nakumatt to touch lives in the environmental,
cultural, educational and health sectors.
On the other hand, in keeping with its environment and
quality policy, Nakumatt’s stringent environment and quality policy and
processes ensure that customers access products and goods that meet
world environment and quality standards.
Nakumatt have always maintained a lead when it comes to
novelty and re-inventing the wheel to provide a wholesome shopping
experience for its customers. This is through 24-hour service in eight
of its chain stores throughout the country. Nakumatt’s wide variety is
legendary — the superstores stock a variety of more than 50,000 local
and international products to cater for the more than 154 nationalities
who shop with them.
The Nakumatt wedding registryis a small wonder that has
brought about convenience. It ensures a couple receives gifts they
really want to receive, thereby letting them plan their homestead with
ease. Also the buyers know exactly what gift to purchase for the couple
because the couple has already chosen them.
The celebrated Cybercash Card has provided exciting
customer rewards in the Smart Card programme where shoppers enjoy
various benefits. Shoppers enjoy a fully-paid-for insurance cover for
one year, goods for value against points, discounts with service
providers, random surprise birthday, off-peak-time double points and
redemption of points for cash.
Then there is the Nakumatt Wine Club where shoppers
enjoy benefits that include double smart points, discount offers on
selected wines and spirits, invitations to exciting cocktails and
wine-tasting events and educative information on wines.
Smart Newsmagazine is targeted at the well informed,
intelligent and prudent smart shoppers who wish to get the best value
for money and at the same time indulge in the good things in life.
They are regular, loyal customers who love to shop in an
atmosphere that offers a great shopping experience. Target segments
include businesspeople, housewives, children, teenagers, young adults,
all of whom have realised the prudence of shopping not just to get basic
necessities, but to add value to their money and their lifestyle.
The responsibility for managing the company at the top
level rests with the Nakumatt Board of Directors, who meet regularly to
provide corporate guidance and review operation strategies all geared
towards providing excellent services to their customers.
Nakumatt Holdings have, in keeping with global standards, bagged a
string of internationally-recognised awards and certifications,
confirming worldclass superiority.
Some of these include:
• The Price Waterhouse Coopers East Africa Most Respected Service Sector Award • Kenya Bureau of Standards ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System • Planet Retail Global Ranking • East Africa Superbrand • GCR Credit-rating
Best of Kenya iinterviewed Nakumatt Managing Director Atul Shah. Excerpts:
Q: How old is Nakumatt and how would you describe the story ofthe supermarket so far?
A: Nakumatt was born out of Nakuru Mattresses. Nakumatt is short for Nakuru Mattresses. Nakuru Mattresses was registered in 1965. We took over the business in 1978 and we were only in Nakuru and Eldoret until 1987 when we set up a small store in Nairobi on Ukwala Street. Then it was known as Nakuru Mattresses, Nairobi. In 1991 we had our first branch.
This was the first so-called hypermarket or supermarket. It was small; only 4,500 square feet. This is what is Nakumatt Mega today and which is approximately 125,000 square feet. So, just like babies grow so has this store.
At the moment we have 28 stores in Kenya, three in Uganda and one in Rwanda. This year, we plans to put up one more in Rwanda, one in Uganda and at least four more in Kenya. So, six stores are planned to be operational this year.
Q: You haven’t mentioned Tanzania.
A: We will open our first store in Tanzania in June in Moshi. Why Moshi? Because development in Dar-es-Salaam was stopped, so if it gets underway again then we will have a branch in Dar next year. We will also have a branch in Arusha where we have already identified a site. Bujumbura is the next stop, then Juba.
Q: That’s rapid expansion.
A: No, that’s opportunity. Yes, we have gone through financial issues because of expanding too fast, but the cost of opportunity was higher. We had some financial issues but we have now recovered. The banks have supported us; one of the banks thought we were expanding too fast, but they did not reckon with the opportunity value. All the banks have realised the opportunity value that we espouse.
When a location is available, you don’t begin asking questions about when because the location is there and then. If you look at Nairobi, we have three circles; the CBD, then the middle circle where we have Nakumatt Mega, Nakumatt Junction and Westgate and the outer circle in which you find us in Embakasi, Galleria, Karen and Village Market. Kiambu Road is coming this year, and the new Thika, which is due next year. The three circles cover Nairobi very well; take any road out of Nairobi and you will find us.
Q: What would you attribute the success of Nakumatt to?
A: We are successful because Nakumatt is one big family. We have 4,700 people working with us in Kenya. We are all concerned about how Nakumatt can be even bigger and better. Everybody here, apart from a few professionals, has grown from, say, a shop attendant to become a manager, or a driver to become a manager, or a turn-boy to become a supervisor. Nakumatt is therefore something everybody is attached to; everybody looks at it as their own; to which they belong.
ourselves to, and adopt the requirements of our shoppers and given them the most attractive and cleanest environment in which to shop, in the right locations and everything that goes with customer requirements and satisfaction. We also appreciate that our customers have been very supportive. Our suppliers have also been very supportive because when we started looking for better-looking stuff and bar codes; when we demanded world class products and standards for goods and packaging; local manufacturers rose to the challenge and continue to give us world class quality.
Q: When you talk of 4,700 employees, that’s the number you employ directly?
A: That’s the number for Kenya. We are 5,000 as an East African family.
Q: How many suppliers could you be talking about?
A: The suppliers we deal with on an inand- out basis daily will be about 700. Out of these, we have supported about 150 suppliers from being cottage industries to significant manufacturers.
Q: Nakumatt stores are found mainly in shopping malls. That’s deliberate I think, what’s the reason for that?
A: Yes, our stores are in shopping malls. There is a lot to do in shopping malls and many people will be found in such places, but if we were stand-alone businesses perhaps there would be times when we would not have many shoppers. There is a lot to do in shopping malls for anybody and everybody to be there.
Q: Is location everything?
A: Ninety per cent of your work is done if you have the right location. If you stay in Karen, for example, you can shop at Nakumatt Junction, Nakumatt Karen, Nakumatt Prestige, Nakumatt Mega, Nakumatt Galleria; you have a choice depending where you are, going or coming from.
Q: Looking at your investment across East Africa, how much money are you talking about? Are you getting a return on your investments?
A: The returns on setting up a good hypermarket is about eight years; the returns on setting up a supermarket would be about six years; to set up a convenient store, like UKay, would be between three and four years. So it depends on the class of supermarket you go for, but, of course, we are going for a mixture of all three.
Of course, the 24-hour stores have been very successful, because congestion in Nairobi and the pressure of time led us to think about convenient shopping hours. This would have meant staying open up to midnight or 2 o’clock, but then there are issues of unavailability of public transport to take staff at home at that time of the night.
So we opted for 24-hour shopping. Our busiest time is between 9 pm to 1 am. This is the biggest basket value time. Families come to shop at this time. They have time on their hands; there is no pressure on them; there is no work; there is no traffic, there is no congestion. Twenty-four hour shopping has helped bring families together.
Previously we would close our stores at 8.30 pm and there would be many customers at the doors pleading to be allowed in because they were held up in traffic. So we made a deliberate decision to alleviate the suffering of our customers because traffic snarl-ups and congestion are not their fault. We are happy to note that the government is tackling infrastructure to make mobility easy.
"originally from Proudly African"
Some of these include:
• The Price Waterhouse Coopers East Africa Most Respected Service Sector Award • Kenya Bureau of Standards ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System • Planet Retail Global Ranking • East Africa Superbrand • GCR Credit-rating
Best of Kenya iinterviewed Nakumatt Managing Director Atul Shah. Excerpts:
Q: How old is Nakumatt and how would you describe the story ofthe supermarket so far?
A: Nakumatt was born out of Nakuru Mattresses. Nakumatt is short for Nakuru Mattresses. Nakuru Mattresses was registered in 1965. We took over the business in 1978 and we were only in Nakuru and Eldoret until 1987 when we set up a small store in Nairobi on Ukwala Street. Then it was known as Nakuru Mattresses, Nairobi. In 1991 we had our first branch.
This was the first so-called hypermarket or supermarket. It was small; only 4,500 square feet. This is what is Nakumatt Mega today and which is approximately 125,000 square feet. So, just like babies grow so has this store.
At the moment we have 28 stores in Kenya, three in Uganda and one in Rwanda. This year, we plans to put up one more in Rwanda, one in Uganda and at least four more in Kenya. So, six stores are planned to be operational this year.
Q: You haven’t mentioned Tanzania.
A: We will open our first store in Tanzania in June in Moshi. Why Moshi? Because development in Dar-es-Salaam was stopped, so if it gets underway again then we will have a branch in Dar next year. We will also have a branch in Arusha where we have already identified a site. Bujumbura is the next stop, then Juba.
Q: That’s rapid expansion.
A: No, that’s opportunity. Yes, we have gone through financial issues because of expanding too fast, but the cost of opportunity was higher. We had some financial issues but we have now recovered. The banks have supported us; one of the banks thought we were expanding too fast, but they did not reckon with the opportunity value. All the banks have realised the opportunity value that we espouse.
When a location is available, you don’t begin asking questions about when because the location is there and then. If you look at Nairobi, we have three circles; the CBD, then the middle circle where we have Nakumatt Mega, Nakumatt Junction and Westgate and the outer circle in which you find us in Embakasi, Galleria, Karen and Village Market. Kiambu Road is coming this year, and the new Thika, which is due next year. The three circles cover Nairobi very well; take any road out of Nairobi and you will find us.
Q: What would you attribute the success of Nakumatt to?
A: We are successful because Nakumatt is one big family. We have 4,700 people working with us in Kenya. We are all concerned about how Nakumatt can be even bigger and better. Everybody here, apart from a few professionals, has grown from, say, a shop attendant to become a manager, or a driver to become a manager, or a turn-boy to become a supervisor. Nakumatt is therefore something everybody is attached to; everybody looks at it as their own; to which they belong.
ourselves to, and adopt the requirements of our shoppers and given them the most attractive and cleanest environment in which to shop, in the right locations and everything that goes with customer requirements and satisfaction. We also appreciate that our customers have been very supportive. Our suppliers have also been very supportive because when we started looking for better-looking stuff and bar codes; when we demanded world class products and standards for goods and packaging; local manufacturers rose to the challenge and continue to give us world class quality.
Q: When you talk of 4,700 employees, that’s the number you employ directly?
A: That’s the number for Kenya. We are 5,000 as an East African family.
Q: How many suppliers could you be talking about?
A: The suppliers we deal with on an inand- out basis daily will be about 700. Out of these, we have supported about 150 suppliers from being cottage industries to significant manufacturers.
Q: Nakumatt stores are found mainly in shopping malls. That’s deliberate I think, what’s the reason for that?
A: Yes, our stores are in shopping malls. There is a lot to do in shopping malls and many people will be found in such places, but if we were stand-alone businesses perhaps there would be times when we would not have many shoppers. There is a lot to do in shopping malls for anybody and everybody to be there.
Q: Is location everything?
A: Ninety per cent of your work is done if you have the right location. If you stay in Karen, for example, you can shop at Nakumatt Junction, Nakumatt Karen, Nakumatt Prestige, Nakumatt Mega, Nakumatt Galleria; you have a choice depending where you are, going or coming from.
Q: Looking at your investment across East Africa, how much money are you talking about? Are you getting a return on your investments?
A: The returns on setting up a good hypermarket is about eight years; the returns on setting up a supermarket would be about six years; to set up a convenient store, like UKay, would be between three and four years. So it depends on the class of supermarket you go for, but, of course, we are going for a mixture of all three.
Of course, the 24-hour stores have been very successful, because congestion in Nairobi and the pressure of time led us to think about convenient shopping hours. This would have meant staying open up to midnight or 2 o’clock, but then there are issues of unavailability of public transport to take staff at home at that time of the night.
So we opted for 24-hour shopping. Our busiest time is between 9 pm to 1 am. This is the biggest basket value time. Families come to shop at this time. They have time on their hands; there is no pressure on them; there is no work; there is no traffic, there is no congestion. Twenty-four hour shopping has helped bring families together.
Previously we would close our stores at 8.30 pm and there would be many customers at the doors pleading to be allowed in because they were held up in traffic. So we made a deliberate decision to alleviate the suffering of our customers because traffic snarl-ups and congestion are not their fault. We are happy to note that the government is tackling infrastructure to make mobility easy.
"originally from Proudly African"
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