Retail, marketing & sales half year market update

Fast-moving consumer goods & retail in general were having a tough time in the market even before the new VAT regulations took effect.

The cost on products and the increase passed onto the consumer has not helped the sector along with the pressure that online shopping is having on stores.

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This has certainly had a negative effect on the number of HQ marketing roles seen in 2017 and the first half of 2018.

It’s not all doom and gloom, in the luxury & premium retail space companies are looking for highly qualified candidates with international experience and good knowledge of local markets to represent their precious brands. A shortage of good people has seen a modest increase in salaries offered.

Retail, Area & Store Managers, Marketing and Brand Directors are the top required roles in luxury retail so far in 2018. More companies are now actively using online channels of distribution and offering the items that are no longer available in stores, hence digital marketing roles are booming as well in 2018.

There was also a growing demand for KSA Nationals in H1, especially women for Management roles, due to “Nationalisation” programmes. On the whole the demand for Saudi nationals with sales experience working for global technology firms remains high as more companies are looking to hire in the Kingdom as Vision 2030 takes shape.

Tourism is creating regional hot spots, and a broader approach to luxury, beyond shopping, to luxury experiences in branded stores, malls and hotels. Therefore we have also been involved with large mass recruitment projects with luxury companies, for experienced salesad visor roles and customer relations oriented roles due to increase in popularity for these “brand experiences”.

New roles are coming up include visual merchandising managers, category managers, as well as requests for specialist retail supply chain roles.

The technology space and especially within the software market continues to perform well across the region with the largest growth coming from Saudi Arabia.

Candidates with experience of selling cloud solutions continue to be in high demand. Other hot spots are ERP, ECM and Business Intelligence across the region.

Successfully closed sales mandates include Sales Director (UAE & KSA), Head of Sales (KSA), Business Development Managers (KSA, UAE, Bahrain), Account Managers (Oman, Kuwait, KSA, UAE).

Successfully filled retail positions - Store Managers in Qatar, KSA and UAE, Client Advisors (x 11), Category Merchandiser, Area Manager, Social Media Manager, CRM Manager, CRM Analyst, HR Retail Manager, Supply Planner, Regional Trainer, Internal Retail Controller.

Download the full Robert Walters Middle East Job Index and Half Year Market Update report.