21 July 2006
Dubai: For many years the sweltering Dubai summer was a barren period for local retailers.
As temperatures soared well beyond comfort levels, residents deserted the country in droves, leaving malls virtually empty except for pockets of idle sales staff.
"Dubai used to be like a ghost town," said Eisa Adam Ibrahim, general manager of the BurJuman and president of Dubai Shopping Malls Group.
"Whether or not you had children and it coincided with the school holidays, summer was a time when you had to leave."
But according to Ibrahim, summer now accounts for up to a quarter of annual retail sales in Dubai shopping malls and more than a third of their yearly footfall count.
Experts link the shift to Dubai's popularity as a tourist destination, better mall entertainment, more restaurant facilities, and the huge success of Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS).
With summer figures now matching the rest of the year and Dubai's massive projected retail and tourism development taken into account, retail spending is likely to hit a huge Dh28 billion by 2009 and will account for 50 per cent of the emirate's GDP, according to a Retail International study.
"We started to see a change in summer retail patterns with the first DSS in 1998 when Dubai began to project itself as a summer tourist destination for GCC countries," said Ibrahim.
According to Hubert Lobo, retailer services manager at ACNielsen, the conversion rate of footfall to shoppers is between 30 and 35 per cent.
The summer now represents a major period of marketing activity for local shops and sees the arrival of thousands of people from the GCC, the Middle East, Europe and North Africa.
"With the quality of malls in Dubai getting better, neither residents nor visitors want to miss any chance of shopping," he added.
Adam Taylor, event manager of Fusion 06, a fashion held at Airport Expo Dubai this September, said Dubai could be on course to become one of the most densely populated shopping city in the world, considering the number of expected new malls and retail units.
De-throning the trailblazer not easy
Other GCC countries including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar are rapidly developing their retail sectors and presenting Dubai with a challenge. Retail spending is expected to touch Dh7.19 billion in Abu Dhabi and Dh2.36 billion in Sharjah by 2009.
But according to Hubert Lobo of ACNielsen, de-throning the Dubai "trailblazer" is easier said than done.
By Robert Ditcham
Gulf News 2006. All rights reserved.
