Dubai's retailing choices are still limited

Over the past decade we have seen a transformation in the retail market from a souk concept to one of central shopping. Once the first few centres were built, consumers slowly adjusted to the new concept, and the idea of finding most of one's needs under a single air-conditioned roof proved highly appealing.

Many investors saw this as a commercial opportunity and the rush was on to build more facilities. Unfortunately many of these facilities were constructed with little or no planning and lack of even basic feasibility studies.

Developing concepts before building a centre was generally not a consideration and expressions such as 'tenant mix', or 'anchor tenant' were not familiar to many of those making the investment. Only brief consideration was given to those who would support the centre, the general demographics and the disposable incomes of the residents living close by.

In the presence of an economic boom, opportunities await and things tend to move quickly. Like many other areas of real estate, shops were rented with no professional marketing and with little problem achieving the desired rates or maintaining 100 per cent occupancy. Therefore why worry; let's get moving!

Like everything, things change and supply slowly increases. At this stage the consumer becomes more demanding and expects a greater choice of product along with greater amenities such as entertainment, convenient parking etc., in order to make decisions to shop in a particular place.

The retailer also has more and more sophisticated requirements and expects pro-active marketing from management along with competitive rental rates and strategic locations in the mall.

In order to meet anticipated investment returns, greater recognition of the ingredients required to create a successful shopping centre must exist. There was a time when a card shop was a genuine novelty and travelling to Deira to have a coffee was common practice.

This is no longer the case. People have their retail outlets close to home, and are able to do most of their shopping in Dubai rather than overseas as was done in the past. Undoubtedly substantial strides have been made, but development is still in the early stages.

When we look at the shopping facilities in countries that have been using this concept for many years, it is obvious that we still have a substantial distance to go. A large number of goods are difficult to source and they range from the very basic to the obscure. With the exception of the few successful malls, we continue to see the same outlets repeated in the various locations and with very few new names. In other words, we have seen increased quantity but the choice of product has only marginally improved.

Some new brands are seen, but in order to provide comprehensive shopping, a much greater variety of retailers are needed to make up the mix. Catering to a diversified group of nationalities is not easy, as tastes vary greatly and retailers are careful not to risk ordering stock that doesn't sell.

However, as more enlightened investors become involved in the retail market, the existing gap will slowly improve, and the way will be paved toward state of the art shopping. Staying ahead with the rapidly developing technology is a challenge that makes Dubai a truly exciting place to be now and in the future.

The author is managing partner of Dubai's Better Homes. Views, questions may be sent to Gulf News, fax 3441-627.