The latest edition of Qatar’s mega festival, Shop Qatar 2020, is not only a shopper’s delight, but also a crowed-pulling extravaganza that will boost the country’s retail sector by increasing sales and generating demand for retailers.
The world-class shopping event is offering unbeatable shopping promotions and attractive travel and hospitality packages that will attract thousands of shoppers to showrooms across the country.
The 25-day festival, started on Tuesday, is giving residents and tourists an exceptional opportunity to explore and enjoy Qatar’s diverse retail offerings, including everything from luxury malls and high-end boutique venues to themed, entertainment-rich shopping centres, as well as authentic souqs and bazaars.
“Events such as ‘Shop Qatar’ have been an effective demand driver for the retail sector in Qatar. It has been successful in promoting Qatar in the GCC region as being ‘retailer friendly’,” Anum Hasan, ValuStrat Qatar Market Research Analyst told Doha Today.
“Consumers benefit from various promotions and discounts offered during the event. It is therefore recognised that shopping festivals such as these benefit both mall operators and vendors through increased sales and mall visits,” Anum added.
Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) in collaboration with Qatar Airways have partnered with several malls across the country along with The Pearl-Qatar to host fashion shows, makeup classes and family entertainment events.
Shop Qatar 2020 has 12 retail partners in Doha and beyond. They include Al Mirqab Mall, AlKhor Mall, City Centre, Doha Festival City, Gulf Mall, Hyatt Plaza, Lagoona Mall, Landmark Mall, Mall of Qatar, Villagio, The Pearl-Qatar and Galeries Lafayette. These partners will be providing discounts of up to 70 percent on a range of consumer goods including clothes, electronics, cosmetics and accessories for men, women and children.
The raffle draws will be held weekly, offering shoppers spending QR200 at any of the participating retailers a chance to win six cars and cash prizes worth over QR2m. Throughout the festival, all participating malls will host free roaming shows and family-friendly entertainment as well as a colourful lights and confetti show every weekend.
“There is a vast set of customers who time their shopping according to the upcoming offers and discount. Offers and discounts have a direct relationship on retail sales and customer turn out. We see sharp increase in the footfalls after announcement of offers and discounts. Going by my past experience, it can be safely said that customer footfalls increase significantly due to offers and discounts,” marketing manager of an apparel showroom told Doha Today.
Shop Qatar is part of a wider program to promote Qatar as an international travel destination with diverse offerings and products across retail, entertainment and culture. The festival is part of QNTC’s efforts to stimulate the economy and promote the retail sector by encouraging stakeholder participation in building products for residents and visitors alike. The festival’s 2019 edition had over 3,000 stores participating, sales vouchers worth QR58.4m.
When it comes to attracting customers, collaborative efforts yield better results than individual efforts. Retailers say that there is a big difference between offers and discounts offered individually by different retailers and when all the retailers team up to offer discount as it is being done under Shop Qatar festival.
“Collective efforts are more efficacious in attracting customers and boosting sales. No doubt, sales do increase when individual retailers or showroom announce offers and discounts, but it is totally a different impact when there is a collective effort,” a senior official of a participating mall told Doha Today.
“A very good example of collaborative efforts was ‘Mega Sale’ offered by several malls during the last few days of November last year. That offer created massive buzz even before it had started. People were aware about it even before it had started because of marketing strategy adopted by retailers,” he said.
Advertisements were floated in the newspapers and social media which created a massive build up in awareness about the upcoming sale.
“This all resulted in a huge turnout of customers. The rush of customers was so huge on the last Friday of November that there were long queues at billing counters and showrooms were packed to their capacity,” said the official.
Launched in 2016, Shop Qatar was aimed at enriching the country’s tourism offering while positioning Qatar as a major shopping destination in the region. The festival forms a part of QNTC’s strategy to grow and diversify the country’s tourism offering, particularly in the area of family and urban entertainment.
Qatar has a vibrant retail sector which has witnessed the entry of major brands and companies in the past few years and many new big names are expected enter this year. Upcoming malls in Qatar during 2020 include J Mall in Al Markhiya, La Plage 04 Mall in The Pearl-Qatar and Doha Mall in Al Maamoura, according to consulting firm ValuStrat Qatar.
“Retail performance in terms of occupancy is projected to improve due to temporary increase in demand as World Cup 2022 nears, especially for shopping centres which are introducing anchor tenants from entertainment and speciality Food & Beverage to draw footfall,” said Anum.
With the completion of Al Waddan Mall in Mesaieed and The Galleria and Department Store in Musheireb Downtown, organised retail supply totalled 1.89 million sqm GLA (Gross Leasable Area) last year. Amid competition from newly opened and expected super-regional malls, relatively older shopping centres have reduced asking rents by an estimated five percent year-on-year and are offering various incentives in order to maintain the tenancy. Average occupancy across malls was estimated at 80 percent.
Cushman and Wakefield Qatar said, in its The third quarter Real Estate Market Review 2019 report, that an increase of more than 100 percent in supply of retail space in less than four years has transformed the organised retail market in Doha. More than 700,000sqm of additional organised retail accommodation is due to be released by 2022.
