Gulf luxury fashion goes SMART

As the west adopt their marketing strategies to the 21C, the luxury set in Dubai follows suit, but the tactics are different and knowing your customer is key for the 21C.  Today we heard form the brand leaders in luxury, one of the first such speakers at Dubai's Luxury Forum was Zayan Ghandour -she shared her vision of filling market gaps with her multi award winning boutique S*uce. Zayan shares " that when buying for the Gulf customer, her success has been in customization" and such a model evolved organically and to great success."  Zayan is an example of an innovator who understands her customer and the value of individualized hanger appeal, Zayan continues to develop innovative concepts and creating new products and services to fit the market gap and customer appeal. MAF Fashion CEO Asil Attar, shared the  Juicy Couture Story and its continued success in the region, which was once again attributed to tailoring the brand to the customer and the region. Asil looks at the stores look, feel and flow. "It must reflect the customer's needs and wants within the cultural environment" she said.  The day closed hearing from Danish Frahan, Chairman and CEO of Xische'.  "It only takes 1 satisfied trend setter to influence 10,900 people - that is the power of the internet and social media" says Danish. Danish captured the essence of the impact of the world online, he believes that "social media is not a sales tool it is an engagement tool". 

Today at the luxury Forum the story of engagement rang true, through and through, customers are looking for authenticity, a brand which fits the market and the need for it to be communicated to them, in their language. The luxury forum's mission is to create a market focused platform for all players of the regional space to meet and discuss strategies. Today we face new challenges, yes they are different to that of the West, but without careful consideration of this new decade in the gulf —  in store design, social interaction and connecting with brand influencers, the West may reach our market first - through their own new technologies and capture our very own market share.