Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming the decision-making backbone of the UAE’s AED 300 billion retail market, according to key insights shared at the IBPC Dubai Annual Retail Conclave 2025, held earlier this week at Dubai Chambers.

Bringing together senior retail leaders, technology strategists, and policymakers, the conclave highlighted how changing consumer behaviour, AI infrastructure investments, and data-led decision frameworks are reshaping retail economics, productivity, and customer engagement across the region.

Opening the session, IBPC Dubai Secretary General Dr. Sahitya Chaturvedi noted that consumer behaviour is evolving faster than business models, driven by rising expectations for speed, personalisation, and authenticity. “Retailers who fail to adapt decision-making to real-time data and context risk falling behind,” he said.

In his keynote, founder and CEO of MSBC Group Kumar Varsani highlighted the UAE’s rapid build-out of AI computing infrastructure, citing major regional investments in sovereign GPU clusters and AI data campuses that are turning abstract strategy into operational capability. He explained that AI adoption in retail and enterprise is evolving through a layered progression, from basic deployment of AI models to agent-driven systems and ultimately to generative, context-aware platforms. In this landscape, traditional business systems such as ERP and CRM are being re-imagined as data and token ecosystems, where real-time insights and accelerated inference redefine value creation and operational agility. Varsani emphasised that organisations must rethink how they use their data and enterprise systems to unlock revenue growth, cost optimisation, and competitive differentiation.

A recurring theme throughout the conclave was context, positioned as the critical layer between human intent and machine intelligence. Speakers emphasised that AI’s real impact lies in decision logic - how organisations leverage existing data to grow revenue, reduce operational costs, and expand margins. The future, they agreed, will see agent-to-agent frameworks, where every employee is supported by an AI agent to enhance speed, accuracy, and outcomes.

During a fireside chat moderated by the convenor of the IBPC Dubai retail focus group, Ali Asgar Saeed, retail leaders Rajesh Garg, Dilip Sinha, and Kumar Varsani shared frontline perspectives on how the sector is adapting to rapidly evolving consumer expectations. The discussion underscored the growing importance of authentic omnichannel communication, same-day delivery capabilities, workforce diversity, and employee empowerment as critical differentiators in a competitive market. Panellists emphasised that successful AI adoption must be outcome-driven and tightly aligned to business goals, delivering measurable improvements in customer experience, operational efficiency, and cost optimisation, rather than remaining confined to experimental or pilot initiatives.

The conclave also put the spotlight on author and IBPC member Shilpa Bhasin Mehra’s book Unfiltered and Unapologetic, which framed AI as “the gift of time,” enabling leaders to focus on creativity, strategy, and human connection.  This member session was introduced by Sachin Joshi, an IBPC member and founder of JSK Global Real Estate and Wisdom Books Reding.

The day’s proceedings were ably moderated by IBPC members and businesswomen of repute, Gomathi Seetharaman and Reema Mahajan.

As the UAE retail sector accelerates toward an AI-led future, the IBPC Dubai Retail Conclave underscored a clear message: sustainable competitiveness will belong to organisations that can harness context, leverage data effectively, and enable intelligent decision-making at scale.

Through such exclusive, member-only forums, IBPC Dubai creates a trusted platform for knowledge exchange, strategic insight, and peer learning, delivering tangible value to its community and helping members stay ahead in a rapidly evolving business landscape.