Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas doubling VOX Cinemas screen count to 600 by 2020

Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas, the region's largest cinema exhibitor is undergoing an AED 1.2bn investment that will see VOX Cinemas maintain its position as the region’s largest name in cinema entertainment through a series of acquisitions, organic expansions and a commitment to data-driven exceptional customer experience.

VOX Cinemas has secured 23 new locations, opening progressively over the next three years, with 2018 set to be the company’s most aggressive year yet, when it will open 16 locations with a total of 145 screens spanning seven countries in the MENA region. Recent joint ventures in Oman and Bahrain have anchored the company as the region’s largest cinema entertainment provider. This year’s expansion into Africa with Mall of Egypt in March and Qatar in April led the Middle East expansion, with further new cinemas in Bahrain and Kuwait opening in the next six months. New cinemas will also launch across the Emirates to complement VOX Cinemas’ existing robust presence in the UAE.

Cameron Mitchell, CEO for Majid All Futtaim Cinemas said, “We have focused on creating great moments for everyone everyday, through offering innovative cinematic experiences and exceptional customer services. We take great pride in VOX Cinemas collecting the Global Exhibitor of The Year accolade at the 2017 CinemaCon conference in Las Vegas earlier this year as a recognition of these efforts. We are continuing to extend our unique offering to more movie lovers by doubling our screen count to over 600 across seven countries in the Middle East, creating more than 1,500 new jobs across the region by 2020.”

Recently, the company expanded its film distribution interests through a new partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film across the region, and we are currently reviewing opportunities in film production for 2018, rounding off our vertical integration plans.”

Mitchell added, “The company expanded its customer base by 50% in the last 12 months, expecting to end the year with 18 million visitors and we are excited to bring our branded concepts to several new locations, including Majid Al Futtaim’s City Centres Sharjah, Al Zahia (UAE) and Sohar (Oman), as well as in Al Ain and on Palm Jumeirah.”

To support the continued expansion of the brand across the region, VOX is gathering intelligence around customer behaviours, entertainment preferences and even food and beverage trends to ensure that any future growth is driven by advanced analytics. Embracing its digital capabilities to maximum potential, VOX will soon be able to exponentially accelerate its ability to react to customer feedback and insights in real time. Investment in E-commerce has already seen online transactions expand to annualise at over 50%.

VOX Cinemas is recruiting new, and upskilling its existing talent with advanced analytics capabilities to execute this strategy as part of the wider Majid Al Futtaim Schools of Analytics and Technology initiative to better understand, predict and serve customers’ needs.

The company recently launched the region’s only digitised cinema loyalty programmme, backed by an advanced customer relationship management (CRM) platform, and has measured guest engagement through the Net Promoter Score, another initiative that Majid Al Futtaim has deployed across its brands.

Mitchell concluded that, “As the Middle East cinema exhibition market continues to mature with new competition entering and analysing the region, Majid Al Futtaim’s passion for exceptional customer experience, coupled with advanced analytics will ensure we maintain our position as market leader delivering the best omni-channel experience for our customers at every touch point in every location along our ambitious journey to 2020.”