Dubai retailers braced for festive shopping onslaught

Shops say this weekend is expected to be busiest as Christmas fast approaches and festive sales lure in custom.

Shoppers flood Dubai Mall for Christmas presents ahead of the opening of Star Wars film. Jasper Juinen / Bloomberg News

DUBAI // The festive shopping rush has begun, with retailers reporting increased trade ahead of Christmas.

And the release of the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie this weekend is only going to add to the human traffic.

Dubai Mall shops said they were braced for a busy run-up to Christmas as people buy gifts for family and friends.

“We start to see an uptick in trade the closer we get to Christmas and we expect this weekend to be busier than last weekend, which was itself better than the weekend before,” said Ashish Panjabi, chief operating officer for Jacky’s Electronics.

“November tends to be a quiet month but the closer we get to Christmas, the more we see new product line launches and that tends to attract customers.”

Popular products are expected to be smartphones, laptops and tablets, he said.

“Tablets, in particular, will be popular because we are seeing a lot of schools adopt a ‘bring your own device to class’ policy and parents tend to feel a lot better about buying things like that if it’s used in school,” Mr Panjabi said.

Although many more people were expected to be in malls for the new Star Wars film and merchandise from the movie has flooded into stores, it may not have much effect on retailers.

“People coming for the film will most likely do so later in the evenings and I’m not so sure how much of a mood they will be in for shopping once they have seen it,” Mr Panjabi said.

Many people are also expected to take advantage of end-of-season sales.

“We are having an end-of-season sale and preparing to get new stock in,” said an assistant at a clothing shop in Dubai Mall, who did not wish to be named.

“From our point of view, it doesn’t matter if it’s before or after Christmas.

“We are expecting it to be very busy, not just this weekend but also until after New Year.”

He said the vast majority of customers would be tourists, as opposed to residents.

Elsewhere, some retailers felt the large number of sale offers may water down demand.

“I’m not sure how busy it will get this weekend because everyone has sales on, so we’ll see,” said an assistant at a sports shop in Dubai Mall.

“But we do usually get a lot of last-minute shopping in the days before Christmas.”

In general, tourists seemed to be more inclined to go bargain hunting than residents.

“I’ve seen that almost all the shops have sales on, which is a bit strange before Christmas because back home all the sales happen afterwards,” said James Willard, 32, from Liverpool, who is enjoying Christmas in Dubai to escape the cold weather in the UK. “I’ll probably buy some gifts for the family when I go back before the New Year.

“I don’t think I’ll watch the Star Wars film when everyone else does this weekend. I’ll wait until next week.”

Karen Ferguson, 31, from Ireland, was still making up her mind about the presents she wanted to get her family.

“I’ll probably leave it till next week,” said the Arabian Ranches resident. “Hopefully by then I will have a better idea of what to get them. There’s still plenty of time to buy gifts.”