Russians and Chinese set to make Dubai Shopping Festival 2014 a record year

More than four million shoppers participated in DSF 2013 and the organiser Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment is expecting a rise of up to 10 per cent as tourism numbers increase.

A bumper year is predicted for the Dubai Shopping Festival. ANTONIE ROBERTSON / The National

Dubai Shopping Festival 2014 is set for a record year as a flood of Chinese and Russian tourists join the emirate’s spending spree.

More than four million shoppers were involved in DSF 2013 and the organiser Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE) is expecting a rise of up to 10 per cent as tourism numbers increase. It has been targeting 17 countries.

Most of the visitors are from Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC region, but the scope has expanded to include more European nations.

Historically the festival was held later on in the year, but in recent years it has been pushed forward to coincide with the Russian Orthodox Christmas and Chinese New Year in a bid to maximise on the number of tourists from these two countries.

“DSF has been playing a major role in positioning Dubai as a destination. Today it is one of the major seasons for retail. That’s why the whole sector gears up for this through preparing different offers and promotions,” said Laila Mohammed Suhail, the chief executive at DFRE.

Visitors to the city’s malls have been increasing steadily over the past couple of years as tourism numbers have risen. In the first nine months of the year, tourist numbers rose 9.8 per cent to 7.9 million.

Dubai Mall, the world’s largest, welcomed 55 million people in the third quarter of this year, up 24 per cent on the previous year. It receives six million visitors every month, helping its developer Emaar Properties to record a 50 per cent rise in third-quarter profits to Dh581m. Retailers make 25-30 per cent of its annual revenues during DSF alone.

“DSF is generally a big event. We see our sales double during the month and we expect that trend to continue,” said Ashish Panjabi, the chief operating officer at Jacky’s Electronics. “The festival has been moved closer to the Christmas period so there could be a case of customer fatigue at the beginning, but it overlaps with the tourist arrivals especially from Russia and China.”

DSF 2014 was announced in partnership with the Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group (DGJG) which is giving away a kilogram of gold and a diamond solitaire ring for each of the 32 days of the festival.

Last year DGJG gave away much less – 250g of gold for each day of DSF 2013. Given the rising confidence in the retail market and Dubai’s economy after the Expo 2020 win, as well as the decrease in gold prices the city’s jewellery retailers are now giving away Dh6m in prizes at DSF 2014.

The promotion is intended to help to place Dubai as the City of Gold. Those that buy Dh500 of jewellery at any of the retailers involved will get a coupon to participate in the daily draw. This year 350 retailers are taking part, up from 300 last year.

“We want Dubai to become the jewellery destination of the world. Over the years we have made a total marketing investment of Dh153m and we would like to boost participation from all [600] members” said Chandu Siroya, the vice chairman of DGJG.

This is the 19th DSF and for the first time, the DFRE is also launching a dedicated DSF mobile app, enabling shoppers to see what offers and promotions are available at each of the malls and stores in DSF.

This year the malls and the retailers have gone big with luxury car giveaways and holidays including a Lamborghini and a Bentley.

Luxury product retailers such as Paris Gallery are also catering to a growing number of Chinese and Russian tourists visiting the emirate. “The expected increase is about 6 to 8 per cent in sales when compared to 2013,” said Mohammed Abdul Rahim Al Fahim,the chief executive of Paris Gallery Group of Companies, which has 11 stores in Dubai.

“But now that Dubai has won the bid for the Expo 2020 and all eyes are on it, sales and profit numbers of 2014 and the years ahead will exceed all our estimates.”