Majid Al Futtaim, a leading shopping mall developer and leisure pioneer in the Middle East and Africa, has opened its largest Carrefour online fulfilment centre in Dubai. 
 
Located in Al Garhoud area, the 5,000-sq-m facility has been set up to ensure the quick and efficient preparation and delivery of products to online shoppers across the emirate. 
 
The opening was attended by Omar Al Olama, Minister for State of Digital Economy, Artificial Intelligence and Remote Work Applications; Alain Bejjani, Chief Executive Officer at Majid Al Futtaim Holding; Hani Weiss, Chief Executive Officer at Majid Al Futtaim Retail, and a number of representatives from Dubai's Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management.
 
Majid Al Futtaim said the centre was built in five weeks in response to the exponential growth in online shopping following the Covid-19 pandemic. 
 
It is currently handling up to 3,000 daily orders, which, the shopping mall pioneer stated, will gradually increase to 5,000 orders per day. The 24/7 centre is staffed by over 250 colleagues, fulfilling customers’ needs with a range of over 8,000 essential grocery products.
 
Weiss said: "Since the beginning of 2020, the grocery retail sector has rapidly evolved in line with changing customer expectations. We had an ambitious plan to scale up our e-grocery business this year, but at the height of the pandemic we found ourselves implementing what was initially conceived as a 12-month strategy in just 12 days."
 
"Covid-19 has brought about an unprecedented acceleration of digital adoption, and this has required us to be agile in our operations and mind-set. This creative resolve has enabled us to quickly enhance our online capabilities to cater to the new norm," he noted.
 
According to him, the Al Garhoud fulfilment centre is the tenth and largest opened by Majid Al Futtaim following the extraordinary demand on Carrefour’s online service during the Covid-19 outbreak. 
 
Carrefour delivers products ranging from fresh food items to household items straight to shoppers’ doorsteps across the UAE, he added.-TradeArabia News Service