Dubai is in prime place to seize the zeitgeist and prepared the ground on this new period of trend and design as luxurious shopper expertise in an ever-changing on-line and in-store setting
Buying stays a key element of Dubai’s draw as a vacationer vacation spot. — File picture
As we enter one more Dubai winter season of design and trend, what lies behind the doorways of the world’s well-known trend homes by no means ceases to amaze and astound in equal measure. What makes the autumn and winter collections unveiled in 2022-23 so particular is the way in which these seasons are being offered to the world, and the way customers can immerse themselves on the planet of excessive trend.
Trend and design have gone hand-in-hand with expertise and innovation for many years — with these tendencies serving to form and construct the business into one of many largest on the planet, forecast to be price some $3 trillion by the top of the last decade . Whereas these numbers are really astounding, collaborations and crossovers with sport and technical put on alongside famend trend homes have helped speed up that progress.
We have now seen synthetic intelligence come to the forefront to boost and amplify the buying expertise, gathering information on tendencies to assist increase gross sales and predict what the demand will likely be within the months and years forward. Stock associated steerage has helped bolster the enterprise backside line, whereas chatbots have helped convey the most recent tendencies into the palm of our arms by way of smartphones.
In the meantime, shops with pre-installed contact screens present an improved buyer expertise and customised product ideas. Every performs a component in constructing a strong future for the style business to make sure its evolution continues within the years forward.
Luxurious manufacturers are the head of the business, and whereas on-line buying has modified the face of trend, there’ll at all times be a spot for conventional bricks and mortar. Customer numbers at UAE malls have been up from a median of 4.1 malls visited in 2021 to 4.3 this summer season with trend driving demand. Regional information confirmed 60 per cent of trend was bought in bodily shops.
Ahmed Al Khaja, CEO of Dubai Festivals and Retail Institution.
There’s nothing fairly like slipping on the best Italian hand-made leather-based brogues or super-soft cashmere sweaters. These are experiences the web world is but to duplicate with any significance, and till they occur, the real-world expertise will stay central to what the business goals to realize in buyer satisfaction.
Nonetheless, the increase in on-line buying has underpinned the expansion within the supply business, with demand pushing up high quality of providers. It isn’t unusual for on-line shops to supply free supply and returns inside 100 days of buy — an choice virtually unimaginable a couple of years in the past is now commonplace and virtually anticipated by the buyer.
Growth of a safe on-line fee infrastructure has additional emboldened client confidence. Tech corporations like checkout.com are quick rising as one of many market leaders, with a cloud based mostly end-to-end funds platform that serves retailers and customers. Safe on-line fee programs are only one cog within the wheel of recent retail however are the bedrock of economic fashions.
In response to RedSeer Strategic Consulting, the share of on-line buying within the UAE retail market is ready to succeed in 20 per cent earlier than 2025 — and that development is simply prone to proceed its upward trajectory due to extra common buying and common order worth. Quick trend has been on the rise with a rising variety of platforms catering to fast new tendencies amongst a broad base of fashionistas and elegance customers.
One regional trailblazer lighting the way in which within the hybrid mixture of on-line and conventional buying tendencies is 6thStreet. The outlet launched its first ‘phygital’ retailer — a mixture of the digital and bodily buying expertise at Dubai Hills Mall. It provided a glimpse into the way forward for retail, with the flexibleness and comfort of choosing out objects by way of shopping a pill on-line after which bodily making an attempt them on within the becoming room. With greater than 1,200 manufacturers to peruse, and a formidable response time of simply three minutes, 6thStreet laid down a marker of how the designer buying expertise might look on a wider scale within the very close to future.
It’s a little early to recommend if this new method has been a powerful success, however the bravery to push new markets and adapt to widespread tendencies demanded from a brand new tech-savvy era is spectacular nonetheless.
Due to Dubai’s plethora of malls and increasing inhabitants — together with a major share of high-net-worth people — the emirate is in prime place to seize the zeitgeist and prepared the ground on this new period of trend and design. Buying stays a key element of Dubai’s draw as a vacationer vacation spot, as every day spend by vacationers within the UAE elevated 30 per cent throughout summer season 2022, in contrast with the earlier yr. Footwear, trend equipment and wonder have been all large winners within the sector.
One other mission setting the benchmark for the remainder of the business to comply with is the current partnership with Majid Al Futtaim and Cisco to create the Retailer of the Future on the Mall of the Emirates. Growth of the mall’s That Idea Retailer all through 2022 has provided a brand new expertise for customers and proved a success for these passing by the huge halls of the Mall of Emirates.
Guests are transported by a futuristic journey of retail, projected by way of Cisco’s core portfolio of technological options. A step-up from the now commonplace retailer analytics, That Idea Retailer’s adoption of a digital show canvas, lift-and-learn expertise, the magic mirror and wonder mirror has elevated the shopper expertise to an unprecedented degree. Digital content material displayed on screens in-store adapt to a buyer’s view — based mostly on their gender and age to permit for a extra personalised buying expertise.
It won’t be the futuristic Minority Report world delivered to us by Tom Cruise fairly but, however digital adverts customised to our personal biometrics seem like turning into nearer to actuality – and never simply reserved to the realms of science fiction.
Ahmed Al Khaja is CEO of Dubai Festivals and Retail Institution. Views expreswed are his personal and don’t mirror the newspaper’s coverage.
