The Guru of Market Research

While interviewing the CEO of a Retail Mall in Saudi Arabia, Vishal noticed the Saudi man wear office shoes and not sandals (unlike Emiratis). On further scrutiny, it came to light that just like the Kuwaitis and Qataris, the Saudi Arabians preferred wearing shoes during work hours and wore sandals for all the other times of the day, a trait uncommon to the Emiratis, who stick to sandals throughout the day. Subsequently, a make-or-break recommendation was rolled out to Al Mandoos to expand their product offering to include shoes when entering the Saudi market apart from advising on the best locations to open in Riyadh and Jeddah. Their sound advice was well received, and the owner of the home-grown Emirati brand considered the recommendation when working on the Saudi-focused product offering and locations. Few years on, the stores of Al Mandoos found great success across Saudi Arabia and currently hold a good positioning in the market.

Practical and highly analytical, GCG has always kept the client’s best interest at the helm of things and has on occasions advised them against taking the step forward. When a bunch of investors from Syria expressed an inclination towards setting up an alternate medicine university in the UAE, at a time when the phenomenon was not even recognized, Vishal’s organization went with a no-go, despite the enthusiasm of the client, thus saving them from a loss of millions.

Vishal believes in offering the right advice to a client situation backed with sound data and justifications. In full conviction and data, he once told a client not to enter into the Bottled Water manufacturing business as it was a highly competitive category with a few hundred players. The client still went ahead with his own decision. Vishal smiles and says, “we are now very good friends,” as we still went ahead and did a complete market study and financial feasibility and helped them in connecting with over 20 F&B establishments “pro-bono” so they could start supplying to them. Vishal calls himself a true connector and is always looking at ways to add value as he believes these things drive lasting client relationships.