Dubai, the Retail Mecca
As anyone who lives in the UAE knows, Dubai is well on its way to becoming a retail and shopping mecca. As MENA Report noted last month:
By 2009, Dubai is expected to have the highest retail spend in the GCC, higher than Saudi Arabia and despite having a population one-twentieth the size. Most of this spend will be generated from the expected 15 million tourists. ... At the helm of its long list of projects that incorporate malls of various sizes, shapes and themes is the Dubai Mall, which will be constructed close to the Burj Dubai Tower, and will be the largest mall in the world. The mall is being pegged to be larger than the gigantic West Edmonton Mall in Canada and the Mall of America in Minneapolis, USA.
Fifteen million tourists may seem like a lot of people until you realize that there is both a great deal of wealth and great number of people within a two-hour flight of here, particularly in oil rich central and southwest Asia:
Dubai has been targeting a market of 1.5 billion people with a GDP of US$1.1 trillion from the Middle East, South Asia and the entire Caspian region. "While for 300 million people in the US, there are a number of hubs, for 300 million people in the Middle East, there is only one hub ~ Dubai," he said. "Moreover, Dubai caters to over 1.5 billion people who are less than two hours flying time away. So, as a hub, as we gear up to serve a wider number of consumers in and beyond the region, we will need more malls." ... Analysing some of its surveys, Retail International's principal Simon Thomson says: "Dubai is on course to become possibly the most densely shopped city on the planet.
The numbers sound so good that it is easy to understand why reports like this one from AME-Info are now so commonplace, expected in fact:
Dunhill, the maker of luxury goods for men, is opening two new boutiques in the UAE before the end of March 2007, and will then expand into other GCC countries, the company said. It has four stores in the UAE at present.
On the other hand, if everything is so rosy, why in the same week would we see news articles like this about Harrod's, the upscale British retailer owned by Saudi financier Mohammad al-Fayed:
UK department store Harrods says it has no plans at present to launch a store in Dubai, according to Retail Middle East magazine. A Dubai-based English daily had recently reported that a deal to bring the iconic store to Dubai was close to being settled.
This is curious. Why would one of the world most well-respected retailers, a retailer whose London store occupies 4.5 acres and over 1 million square feet of selling space, a retailer who motto is Omnia Omnibus Ubique (All Things, For All People, Everywhere), a retailer owned by a Saudi who surely has both roots and friends in the UAE- why would this retailer have no plans to set up shop in Dubai. Does Mr. al-Fayed know something the rest of do not? Is it a negotiating ploy? Misinformation? Could he have his sights set on somewhere else in the UAE, perhaps Abu Dhabi? Or does he have grander plans than perhaps he is now willing to let on? While I have no answers to these questions, I do have a prediction: Harrod's will be here sooner or later, and more likely sooner than later.
Dubai is on track to become everything the analysts project- the most densely populated shopping center on the planet, a veritable retail mecca. And despite all the other possible places for the world best retail brands to be, few have what Dubai has to offer, not the least of which are the 45-day shop-a-thon known as the Dubai Shopping Festival which attracted over 3.3 million visitors in 2005 and the name that is every (English-speaking) retailers favorite phrase Do Buy! In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if, in not too long, Do Buy and Dubai mean the same thing in both English and Arabic.
Tags: Middle East| retail| Dubai | UAE | Dubai Shopping Festival
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