LuLu celebrates the festive season with a new promotion of Italian Food

Lulu Hypermarket kicked off recently a new promotion of Italian food products, giving shoppers the opportunity to explore not only a wide range of authentic Italian food products but its rich culinary heritage.Titled “Festive Season, Enjoy the best of Italy,” the event is being held in co-operation with the Italian Trade Agency (trade promotion section of the Italian embassy in Qatar) until December 30 to mark the festive season and boost the sales of Italian food products in Qatar.“This is a very fruitful relationship we established with LuLu, in particular with farmers’ association, Coldiretti (Italy’s national association of farmers representing 500,000 producers)… it is something that is also benefitting the consumers because they don’t have so many sorts of middleman dealing with it. “It is also a way of allowing brands that are not necessarily large and well-known but that ensure very high quality to have access to this market so it is a win-win situation for the three parties: for LuLu, the Italian farmers, and the consumers in Qatar,” said Italian ambassador Alessandro Prunas.The envoy inaugurated the event at Lulu Hypermarket, Abu Sidra branch. The occasion had Augusta Smargiassi, Italian Trade Commissioner to Qatar, officials from ITA and Italian embassy, and dignitaries from the retail sector in attendance. The campaign showcases a wide range of Italian products, including dry groceries, canned vegetables, pasta, rice, cheese and other dairy products, biscuits, coffee, olive oil, fresh fruit and vegetables, chocolate, sauces, spices, and condiments, among others.LuLu noted that this initiative was “designed to promote and taste a wide range of ‘Italian products while telling the unique story of the extraordinary Italian gastronomic heritage. Irrespective of the nationality, commonly people eat Italian food; because it is healthy, of high quality, and meets safety and environmental standards”.Exports of Italian agro-food to Qatar continue to grow year on year despite challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic – a “major indicator of recognition of quality and excellence of Italian products”.“There has been a surging demand and recognition for the products of Italian origin. This is an opportunity for promoting excellent Italian products in Qatar. Thanks to the efforts of the Italian Trade Agency.“Italian food products are very popular in our market and other markets across the world for its excellent quality, highest safety standards, and wide varieties; and there is an ever-increasing demand for good quality Italian food products in Qatar and in the region. “Since we started trade relations with Italy, we have been able to take our partnership forward by bringing in the most authentic Italian food products to Qatar. In addition, we have been able to bring all functional food categories – gluten-free, organic, and other healthy ranges,” the statement indicates,” the LuLu Group management said in a statement.LuLu Group noted that it initiated extensive promotional campaigns through in-store branding, newspapers, and radio ads, social media, booklets, and google ads to make Italian food more popular among the local community.As part of strengthening its long-standing business relations with Italy, Lulu Group added that it is now setting up its export logistics centre at the World Trade Centre in Milan, which is expected to be operational soon. According to Prunas, establishing such centre in Milan means “that this relationship will be continuing in the future and will actually grow more and more, and we have confirmation of this with the figures, which shows that there is a constant increase in consumption of agro-food products from Italy.“This is mainly due to LuLu’s activity, not just Lulu of course, it is actually helping a lot to make our products be available in Qatar.”Lulu Group has a comprehensive network of Export Distribution Centres in 22 countries, including state-of-the-art facilities in the UK, US, and Spain, the statement added.