Luxury Brands In The Desert: The Middle East

In recent years, luxury brands are trying to expand into the Middle East market and build fashion wealth in the desert. Driven by the vigorous development of oil economy and tourism, European and American luxury brands have set their eyes on the Middle East to further expand their market, and have opened exclusive stores in these desert countries. Therefore, it has become the most popular gold mining area for fashion industry in the world. Fashion house: the number of stores has doubled, and the world's major high-end fashion houses are very optimistic about the market potential in the Middle East. Michael Fendi, the chief executive of Fendi in the Middle East, said the sales rate reached almost 50% with that of Fendi in the Middle East. "I'm very bullish on the Middle East market, and my expectations here are much higher than those in India," he said Sidney toldano, chairman of Christian Dior, agreed, saying: "the demand for luxury goods in the Middle East is very strong, which is comparable to the performance of the Russian market." Toldano plans to triple the number of exclusive stores in the Middle East in the next 18 months, such as opening its first store in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah and opening a second store in Dubai, UAE. "I think Dior has great potential in the Middle East, where consumers know our brand culture very well and they all have enough money to pay for the expensive luxury goods," toldano said Villamoda life experience chain from Kuwait has played an important role in promoting the development of fashion industry in the Middle East. Its chairman, Majid alsaba, plans to open 40 stores in the region this year, including the first introduction of dries van noten, Tom Ford, Vivienne Westwood and ISS in the Middle East Eymiyake) and Martin magira. In the past, the price of crude oil in alba and the people all over the world have obviously seen that the price of crude oil has soared to US $100 a day. It is reasonable that luxury goods trade is developing rapidly in the Middle East. Of course, compared with the European and American markets, the luxury industry in the Middle East is still in a developing situation, but on the other hand, it also indicates that the region has great development potential, and many big cities in the Middle East still have no luxury brand retail stores. " The Dutch duo, Viktor & Rolf, has increased the scale of the brand's development in the Middle East by about 300% in the past year, but it's only the beginning. The duo said they hope the Middle East market will account for a quarter of the brand's total sales revenue in the coming years. In 2008, the duo will cooperate with villamoda to open stores in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Dubai and other countries and regions. "We are deeply impressed by the rapid development of the Middle East market, and we appreciate the local aesthetic choices and artistic design concepts," the duo said. Obviously, the fashion market in the Middle East is changing dramatically. We feel that there are very strong business opportunities in the Middle East. " Jean Paul Gaultier, a French high-end fashion house, has 11 stores in the Middle East and will open in Jeddah and Qatar in 2008. Missoni, an old fashion house from Italy, plans to increase the proportion of sales in the Middle East to 7% of total sales in the next five years, from 1.5% now. "The company is still growing in the Middle East," said Paul Crowder, chairman of the company Dolce & Gabbana, an Italian fashion brand, also said it would open stores in Jeddah, Riyadh and Istanbul, Turkey in recent months. The company expects to add nine stores in the Middle East in the first half of 2008, which indicates that the company will start to vigorously expand the Middle East market. Christina Lula, marketing director of Dolce & Gabbana, said: "for a long time, we have been working with local companies to establish business partnerships. Now is the best time to increase investment, strengthen cooperation and expand the company's store scale in the Middle East market. Through local multi brand enterprises, we not only establish a solid sales channel, but also expand it It has gained popularity and cultivated a large number of loyal consumers. In the future, we can't expect a leap in sales in the Middle East. " Italian fashion brand Marni plans to open five stores in the Middle East in 2008. Market environment: all round attractiveness. Many brand companies and retail giants have expressed their confidence in the competition in the Middle East market. Of course, there are many reasons. There are both local endogenous factors and external factors gradually maturing. There are both objective and subjective conditions. A kind of all-round attraction is emerging. Subjective conditions: first of all, historically, the Middle East's rich are the most loyal customers of Paris fashion and all kinds of luxury goods; secondly, there are quite a number of royal families in the Middle East, who have a lot of wealth and are the main consumers of luxury goods. Of course, the most important thing is the unique traditional culture of the Middle East. No matter which market it is, it has its own local culture and local market environment characteristics. Certain cultural traditions in the Middle East determine that certain types of products will be more popular here. For example, since the vast majority of Arab women wear black robes, expensive handbags, shoes, jewelry and sunglasses have become the most sought after luxury. As for men's and khanitiyer's luxury shoes, they are used to showing off their own expensive shoes. "In the Middle East, leather products have become the most popular product category of Gucci brand, which is very similar to the situation in the global market," said Mark Lee, CEO of Gucci brands. Expensive leather and other products made from animals are very popular. At the same time, the sales of shoes, boots and ready-made clothing products are also considerable. " Ralph toldano, chairman and chief executive of Chlo é, a French fashion house, revealed that the professional limited edition h é locse handbag is very attractive to consumers in the Middle East, with gold lambskin or silver Python skin showing its noble quality. Mr. arshaba, chairman of villamoda, believes that Middle East consumers are very fond of fashions and accessories that take full account of local customs. Arshaba had invited Tom Ford to design an Arabian robe like dress for Arab men, van Norton had a special hood, and Jill sander had designed a robe. In addition, perfume is also one of the biggest consumer goods for women in the Middle East. Christopher kelaud, chairman of gorje, said that European designers must consider the religious customs of the region when designing fashion for the Middle East market. Most of the styles are large in size and can cover the whole body, which will help to cultivate a stable local customer base. At present, for the vast majority of fashion brands, the sales performance in the Middle East market accounts for less than 10% of the total sales volume. However, the management of the enterprise thinks that the opening of exclusive stores here has some advantages that other regions do not have. Firstly, the consumption power is very strong. Secondly, the expenditure level of store rent, tariff and staff salary is lower than that of fashion capitals such as Paris and New York And the stores here will create a larger proportion of profits. Objective conditions from the external factors, first of all, the prosperity of tourism in the Middle East has greatly promoted the prosperity of fashion market in the Middle East. A large number of tourists from all over the world flocked to big cities such as Dubai. Brands such as Fendi took the opportunity to display various luxury fur fashions in their stores, which allowed groups of wealthy Russian tourists to empty their wallets (while the local rich flew to London and Paris for shopping). In a way, Dubai is more like Las Vegas in the Middle East, where tourists come to shop and are more likely to shop around hotels. According to Shireen El Khatib, chief executive of Al tayer, a luxury goods company in Dubai, Russians have become the largest group of overseas tourists visiting the desert country of the United Arab Emirates, accounting for 60% of all inbound tourists. They often fly directly to Dubai, stay for a week, and shop a lot. Michael Burke, chief executive of Fendi, said Qatar Airlines and Emirates have planned to build Qatar city and Dubai into new international airports, which will undoubtedly bring more tourists and investors there. "Dubai has become a hot tourist destination city, and almost all luxury goods in the Middle East are sold through Dubai," kelaud said. Some rich countries, such as Bahrain and Qatar, are open to Western tourists, which attracts a large number of fashion brand companies to invest in, and more and more people come here to spend money on shopping. " Of course, climate is also one of the factors that designers have to consider. For example, the highest daytime temperature in Dubai is as high as 115 degrees Fahrenheit. "Lightweight and breathable fabric is one of the prerequisites for designing apparel specifically for consumers in the Middle East," said Gianni gastiglioni, chief executive of Mani John Hawkes, chief executive of George Armani, said the rapid population expansion in the Middle East also provided another guarantee for brands to expand their market here. As a matter of fact, Dubai now has an inch of land and money. The rent and prices are very expensive, and the traffic in the city is very congested. Therefore, luxury brands often need to open several stores in the city to maintain their attraction to customers. This is very similar to super large cities such as Paris, New York and Hong Kong. Massimo Gasparini, chief executive of Italian fashion house Missoni, said: "the Middle East market is now booming and we believe that the market in this region has great development potential. I just visited Dubai not long ago. To my surprise, there are at least 50 brand stores on a short street. The luxury market is incredibly developed. " Middle East countries are rich in oil. While gathering wealth, many local companies are also actively seeking investment opportunities abroad. The best example is the successful acquisition of Barneys department store shares in New York by istithmar, a Dubai company, which beat fast retailing, a Japanese investment company. The trade between local enterprises and large companies in Western countries is increasingly frequent. Consumer: nature + strength + potential villamoda opened a boutique for fashion products in Damascus commercial street in 2006. Chairman arshaba said that the store's sales growth rate is double-digit and the effect is good, so the company opened a third store in Syria last month. Al Shaba said he would also open stores in Muscat, Oman's capital, and Cairo, Egypt's capital. Unlike other emerging markets, fashion houses no longer need to educate consumers in the Middle East about fashion brands. Consumers here are naturally highly sensitive to fashion trends and have a strong demand for the latest trends and accessories. Michael Burke, Fendi's chief executive, said: "most consumers in the Middle East often browse European magazines, learn about the history of brand development, know how to appreciate t-shows, and like to watch shows, which are very similar to European consumers." Ralph toldano, chairman and chief executive of French fashion brand Kroyer, said that Middle East consumers are used to seeing relevant advertisements or print advertisements and coming to exclusive stores, and then capturing all the products that can be seen. Gianni gastiglioni, chief executive of Mani, said: "our Arab female customers are very sensitive to changes in fashion trends and have a strong desire to have new products, and often ask the store staff to inform them of the arrival of goods. The whole Middle East region has great development potential. " At the same time, luxury brands are considered the most popular among consumers in the Middle East. For example, for the Paris fashion house, although the shopping amount of the Middle East customers only accounts for 5% of the total revenue, 8% of the consumers in Paris come from the Middle East, which is equivalent to the Russian and Chinese people. Ralph toldano, chairman and CEO of croye fashion house, said the company's sales growth rate in the Middle East in 2008 is expected to reach 30%, and the company's marketing goal is to double sales in the next three years. Ralph Thor