Middle East, December 2005 Edition::IMAGES Retail :: Retail Outlets, Garments, Apparel, Lifestyle and Business of Retail, India

In half a generation, the Persian Gulf (or Arabian Gulf as it is better known locally) has developed into over a US$50 billion retail market. The engine room for this growth has come from the six countries of The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - something akin to the European Union comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE). Adding in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iran and Iraq, the pan-Middle East retail market is reckoned to top US$100 billion.

With a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expected to reach US$600 billion in 2006 and a population of 34 million people, including about 500,000 high-income professionals, the GCC is the world's 17th largest economy. It produces 16 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil and exports 13 million bpd generating about US$250 billion in annual revenue.

a		a
a

Globalisation of the economy is bringing exciting opportunities for retail expansion in the Middle East with shopping centre development beginning to spread out from Dubai into adjacent Gulf States.

All of these countries have young populations who, through the influence of global brands, advertising, television and international travel, want to experience the same quality of retail facilities that have been available for many years in the likes of the USA, Europe, South Africa, Australasia and parts of the Far East.

<< To read more...

Top

Dubai has a resident population of approximately one million. The population explosion of the last years means that there is a high proportion of young people. The growing economy also means a high percentage of these are affluent. If the population increases as anticipated, it should touch 1.3 million by 2009 and three million by 2017.

Mumbai is expected to become the world's second largest metro by 2015. It already has a resident population of approximately 12 million and of those around 30 per cent are thought to be in the high-income bracket. Even with a dearth of up-to-date information on demographic growth, it is apparent by the number of new, luxury cars, the advent of new internal airlines and the continuing expansion of retail malls and stores that Mumbai's middle class is emerging at a staggering rate. With numbers like this, it is entirely comprehensible that Mumbai's growth will come, initially, from the domestic market and, unlike Dubai, will not have to rely on tourist revenue to sustain the retail expansion.

Last month, May 12, 2006 in Dubai, marked the opening, with great fanfare, of the first Tommy Hilfiger store in the Gulf Region. It marks the beginning of a planned 25 store expansion into the area by the Murjani Group from India. Clearly, Dubai has become a strategic destination for embedding a retail footprint into the Gulf region. Recently, Louis Vuitton, Harvey Nichols, Kenneth Cole, Dior, Baldessarini, and other premium and luxury brands have taken their place in what has become a "must" for any brand that wishes to convey to the global market its international pedigree. How did this incredible transformation come about?
What factors converged to transform a small market with a limited population (3,000,000) and with a climate and culture not always conducive to seasonal fashion trends and products, into a luxury retail hub? Will this trend continue and if so, what does it tell us about the new dynamics of retailing and branding in a “Flat World?”

<< To read more...

What should retailers do for their customers in the 'consumer centric' new age? When retail design, shop fixtures and marketing meet the trends, the result of a business is a satisfied customer. "Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there" (Will Rogers). Nothing stands still in retail and rising to the challenge of change is crucial.
The challenge is perpetual. It was the same in the past and it will remain the same in the future: understanding the retail consumer.
Today's facts are true worldwide and without quoting too many brands I am sure your knowledge and imagination will do the rest.

<< To read more...

If there is one common link between retailing destinations the world over it is the preponderance of water features of all shapes and sizes - whether they be giant water jets leaping 80 feet into the air or carefully choreographed groups of dancing streams providing the centrepiece to a brand new shopping centre.

Almost without exception any new major retail scheme whether it be in Beijing, Abu Dhabi or Chicago, provides dramatic water fountains to draw in the crowds and act as a people magnet.
It is no surprise that water is a fundamental part of the culture of every race on earth. Being one of the four elements and vital to human life, almost every culture reveres water and sees it as an essential purifier.

<< To read more...