United Arab Emirates (UAE) Retail Sector Overview - August 2010

Over the last few years the UAE’s retail sector seen remarkable growth and has positioned itself in the global retail map. The country’s burgeoning retail industry is anchoring the UAE government’s economic diversification efforts. Favorable government policy frameworks and active participation of private sector have facilitated one of the world’s most desirable retail environments in terms of investments and revenue generation. Further, population growth, rapidly increasing economy, progressing service sector and promising travel and tourism sectors, stabilizing crude oil prices, rising purchasing power and strong consumer confidence are driving the retail industry. The modern shopping malls anchoring modern hypermarkets, highly developed free trade zones, shopping events like Dubai Shopping Festival and relaxed tax provision provide auxiliary growth thrust to the sector.

Even in the wake of economic slowdown, the retail revenue collections registered impressive growth and operating margins of players were on the higher side. The UAE's retail sales have grown over $107 billion in 2009 from $104 billion by 2008. It is expected that the retail sales in the country will climb over $120 billion by the end of 2011. A wave of new shopping centers and malls, which are at various stages of development, will further provide further UAE’s retail sector. The country have made massive investments into its retail real estate market and some of the world's most spectacular malls such as Dubai Mall, Mall of Emirates, Yas Mall etc. are expected to come online in the next 2-3 years, giving the nation increased international recognition.

The team at Ventures Middle East has brought a report on the Retail Industry in the United Arab Emirates 2010, which provides a comprehensive understanding of the entire market dynamics of the Retail sector to assist players interested in assessing the market opportunities in this robust and dynamic market. Besides providing an impact probability matrix on key drivers and restraints that influences the country’s retail infrastructure, the report also conducts a scrutiny of the various political, economic, social, technological, legislative and environmental trends impacting the sector. It also highlights the developments in the country’s real estate and hospitality markets, which boosts retail sector. It provides a complete retail map on how the UAE retail space has evolved over the years and what are the planned activities in the sector. The key highlight of the report is that it presents a complete and coherent competitive overview of the UAE retail industry. Further, the report also identifies all the key players in the Retailers Profile section of the report. The section talks about the business profile and strategic moves of the leading players operating in the sector. This study is a critical guide to understanding the forces that produce the changes in the Retail Market and in making informed decisions on the industry.