CEO of Dubai retail giant sees ‘better and faster’ rebound from virus blow

Alain Bejjani believes this comeback will look different than the pre-pandemic retail concepts as consumers seek more digital and community-focused experiences.

It is this belief that guided the creation of THAT, MAF’s first ever concept destination, which aims to take shoppers on a complete lifestyle journey.

In an exclusive interview with Arabian Business following THAT’s launch earlier this week, Bejjani spoke about the changing retail trends and how MAF is adapting to them.

He also elaborated on why he is optimistic about the UAE economy in 2021 and what is in store for MAF in the year ahead.

Are you optimistic about 2021 going forward when it comes to the economy?

Well, I would say generally, yes. I think 2020 has been a story of the soft shaped W. We had a great start of the year, then we had the big dip, then we came back into activity in May and things continued to get better and better.

We had a very good July and August where the retail economy grew 2 percent in August compared to 2019. Then things got softer in September and October but came back in November and December.

Alain Bejjani, CEO of retail giant Majid Al Futtaim (MAF)

So on average, speaking about the retail economy, 2020 has delivered a result that’s about 10 percent less than 2019, bearing in mind that there was almost no tourism contribution that year.

So I think that was good and better than expected in terms of the impact. 2021 is on the same recovery trajectory that we had in 2020 so I’m expecting that we’re going to continue in the same trend. In my personal opinion, by mid by June 2021 we should be back to almost normal.

I think a very important effort that’s being rolled out currently is the vaccine effort and the fact that as we speak, about 18 to 19 percent of UAE’s population has already been vaccinated. So it is not unreasonable to believe that somewhere between April and May, we should be at 80 percent of the population vaccinated, if not before and reach herd immunity.

The government has expertly handled the pandemic and this has reinforced the sense of belonging and safety for people. They handled the reality with vigilance while being as business-friendly as possible and I think everyone appreciates that and it had a positive impact.

Of course, we are talking about a positive impact in a very challenging year but it was not a situation where there was a disregard to livelihood: it was lives and livelihood in a balanced way.

THAT is MAF’s first ever concept destination

We’ve seen today how Dubai is coming back and how, by the end of 2020, Dubai was the global tourism destination. We’re also seeing people coming back to the malls, cinemas, restaurants, etc.

All this actually gives me comfort that we’re going to come back, in my opinion, better and faster than anyone else.

Why did you think of developing a concept like THAT and do you think the future of retail will be similar to it?

We will only know if this is the future of retail when it becomes the future of retail. Saying that today is, in my opinion, a bit pretentious because who knows?

In reality, the customers will define the future of retail, not the stakeholders. People will decide the future of retail through their actions, what they like and what gives them enough incentive to use that channel or the other.

So our role is to always be innovative to stay relevant. This is why our vision is to create great moments for everyone, every day. To create great moments, you have to create something that’s always new, delightful and a little bit surprising because today’s great moment is tomorrow’s expected moment; you have to keep pushing the bar for it actually to be great.

We are in a continuous dialogue with our customers and are trained to observe what their preferences are, where they go and what channels they are using to do what.

What we are seeing is that people want much more experiences. We want to experience things, rather than just to consume and buy them; even that simple act of buying a T-shirt needs to be meaningful. We want that because we are seeking fulfilment through everything we do; we want every act that we do to be part of a bigger picture.

They also want more technology. As much as we value our privacy, we also value all the technological advancement that today makes us capable of tapping digitally into every interaction we do. This is something that we want more of but within the boundaries of what makes us comfortable.

MAF wanted to show how Dubai as a city has matured over time

When you put all of this together, you get to THAT. That is a place where we do not offer products but a lifestyle. The range of experiences stretches from services – such as a sustainable laundry, a repairs corner and a beauty salon- to retail and dining. We also have the option of buying online through the app and picking up at the store.

THAT started digitally with the app and became physical with the store and we are going to have more and more of an omnichannel experience across the board moving forward.

THAT has a different feel than other retail concepts developed by MAF to date. Can you comment on that?

We did not go for the typical luxurious department store environment but for a destination that has a soul or character and that actually breathes the community. We wanted to have something that is from Dubai and for Dubai out of the belief that certain destinations can only exist when in their birthplace.

We wanted to show how Dubai as a city has matured over time and how it is today the metropolitan and cosmopolitan city that we know as the melting pot of the world. When you look around you in the store, you recognise things that are uniquely Dubai and that you identify with whether you have been here for a year or 30 years.

Do you think this trend of supporting local talent and commerce was because of the pandemic?

I would not attribute that solely to the pandemic although I think it accelerated the trend. But actually pre-Covid, we were talking a lot about “Glocal” or global standards and local feel and how people were wanting more of that.

I think during the pandemic, and afterwards, we all valued our communities, neighbourhoods and the spaces where we felt at home much more. Before that, we aspired to become global citizens that can live anywhere and belong to the world but this has changed today.

What we want now is the best of both worlds: we continue to eagerly want global standards in what we do but we want that reflected and delivered through a local feel. This is something that we are valuing as individuals and as communities more and more, and I think THAT is definitely an expression of that.

What is your view on tech and digitalisation and their contribution to the economy?

I’ve always been a big proponent of the digital economy and one of the things that I like a lot is that we now have a minister for digital economy in the UAE.

By using better technologies, we’re going to become more and better connected. That is going to help us lead more fulfilling lives because we’re going to be able to take the clutter out and focus on what matters the most.

This is something that MAF is committed to and this is why we’ve been investing in growing our digital business as well as our physical business. One cannot think of the future today by segregating or separating digital from physical: they are one and I think the omnichannel experience is going to become more comprehensive and even more fulfilling.

Spread over 136,200 square metres of gross leasable area, City Centre Al Zahia will offer a variety of retail, leisure, dining and entertainment options

What is in the pipeline for MAF in 2021?

Our first big bang of 2021 was the launch of THAT. At a time when people are not really investing much, we continue to believe that walking the talk is very important.

In the coming two to three months, we’re going to have a major opening of our latest shopping centre, City Centre Al Zahia, at the border between Dubai and Sharjah and that will be an important destination for the Northern Emirates.

We have Tilal Al Ghaf, which we launched during the pandemic that continues to do very well as the residential sector has been a very good one this year. We’ll have more phases that we’ll be launching this year.

We also have a lot of newnesses that are going to come on the Carrefour side, on our digital businesses as well as on the lifestyle. So quite a busy agenda and we’re very happy and eager about it.