Dubai: A softening retail market in the UAE means that retailers need to get creative to attract more customers into stores, industry experts say.
One way retailers can be creative is by hiring product experts who have knowledge of the products and can answer customers’ questions, says David Macadam, chief executive of the Middle East Council of Shopping Centres. Tech giant Apple has already done this — it has positions like ‘Genius’ and ‘Expert’. Apple opened two stores in Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates and Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi last week.
“One of Apple’s defining features is the ‘Genius’ section where you speak to people who are knowledgeable about Apple products... so retailers need to have product experts that rival those in the Apple store or do something that’s different,” Macadam said on the sidelines of the ReCon Middle East and North Africa conference in Dubai on Monday.
Another way retailers can be creative is by setting up pop-up stores, which are getting popular in the UAE. Pop-up stores are temporary and can be found in a mall or within a brick-and-mortar store. Dubai Mall currently has a Hermes pop-up store.
These stores can help build brand awareness, catch shoppers’ attention and expose them to new products and services, according to Nikola Kosutic, research manager at consultancy Euromonitor International.
Globally, retailers are using technology to be creative. For one, Lowe’s, a US-based home improvement retailer, launched multilingual robots last year that greet customers and help them find the product they’re looking for.
“Consumers and retailers are more and more willing and quicker to experiment, adopt and move on to the latest technologies in more creative and innovative ways,” consultancy Deloitte said in its Global Powers of Retailing 2015 Embracing Innovation report.
Retail sales in the UAE have softened this year due to a number of factors, such as lower consumer confidence amid slower economic growth, and a weaker euro and rouble against the US dollar, to which the UAE dirham is pegged.
Kosutic said that retailers have increased their promotional budgets this year to get more consumers into their stores, with some revamping or launching customer loyalty programmes.
To keep consumers longer in stores, retailers are placing billboards that offer more information on the products, he said.
