Al-Yousifi Group Kuwait & Electronics Retail: Overview by Adel Easa Al-Yousifi
“Al-Yousifi was established in 1955 by my father. He took the agency of National, which is now Panasonic. We have especially grown after the 1991 liberation. Until 1994 or 1995, we were number one in electronics in Kuwait. We were only concentrating on Panasonic at that time, because the deal between us and Japan was to not have other brands in our showroom,” says Adel Easa Al-Yousifi, Senior Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Al-Yousifi Group.
“Al-Yousifi was established in 1955 by my father. He took the agency of National, which is now Panasonic. We have especially grown after the 1991 liberation. Until 1994 or 1995, we were number one in electronics in Kuwait. We were only concentrating on Panasonic at that time, because the deal between us and Japan was to not have other brands in our showroom,” says Adel Easa Al-Yousifi, Senior Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Al-Yousifi Group.
“Then, competitors such as Alghanim began to come in with their strategies and multibrand shops. They were the agent for Phillips and some other not very well-known brands. They started buying Sony, Panasonic, Sharp and other products and putting them in their shop. The idea of a multibrand shop with a variety of TVs and electronics like in Europe and America began to pick up. We were late in shifting because the Japanese were rejecting this and hesitant to allow us to put other brands next to Panasonic. Panasonic was well-known and the strongest in the market, and we believed that it could survive, but it could not. We started losing shares in the market and we dropped to number two or three. Most of our life we had been number one in Kuwait. Now, things have changed and we have shifted our showroom to best brand and we are also multibrand. We sell our product and our competitors’ products, although they are not really competitors and it is not such a competition anymore. Now, we are picking up. We are moving towards number two, and we aiming for number one. Our whole life story was always in electronics. During and after the invasion, my father decided that it might be best to open some business outside Kuwait. We now have some small businesses in Dubai, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is going well. We are the agent for Panasonic wired devices and electrical sockets. We are moving towards number two in Saudi Arabia, which is a big market. We are aiming to be number one by 2018, but most likely, we will stay at number two for a few years.”