KARACHI: Pakistan’s burgeoning youth and their freewheeling

attitude toward rising incomes have turned the nation into the
world’s fastest growing retail market.
Faseeh Mangi wrote in Bloomberg website, the market is predicted to expand
8.2 percent per annum through 2016-2021 as disposable income has doubled
since 2010, according to research group Euromonitor International. The size
of the middle class is estimated to surpass that of the U.K. and Italy in the
forecast period, it said.
Pakistan’s improving security environment, economic expansion at near 5
percent and cheap consumer prices are driving shoppers to spend up big.
Almost two-thirds of the nation’s 207.8 million people are aged under 30,
according to the Jinnah Institute, an Islamabad-based think tank.

“We have a new millennial shopper at hand. They don’t mind spending to have
the kind of lifestyle they would like,” said Shabori Das, senior research analyst
at Euromonitor. “It’s not like the Baby Boomer generation where savings for
the future generation was important.”
Pakistan is bucking the trend in the U.S. — where stores are closing at a record
pace as e-commerce undermines bricks-and-mortar. It’s also attracting
foreign operators: Turkish home appliance maker Arcelik AS and Dutch dairy
giant Royal FrieslandCampina NV entered the market last year via
acquisitions. Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp. and Renault
SA are all building plants in the South Asian nation.

Pakistan’s retail stores are expected to increase by 50 percent to 1 million

outlets in the five years through 2021, Euromonitor said. Its three biggest
malls, Lucky One in Karachi and Packages Mall and Emporium Mall in
Lahore, opened in the past two years.
Pakistan is mirroring what India went through about four years ago. Both
countries have young populations with more income and less inclination
toward saving which is a distinct difference to what retailers elsewhere are
dealing with, said Das. (Courtesy: Bloomberg.com)

TOPICS:
CONSUMERS IN PAKISTAN ECONOMY MIDDLE CLASS OF PAKISTAN

Reference: https://www.samaa.tv/economy/2017/09/pakistans-retail-market-shows-surprising-growth/