For retailers, a surge in sales over Eid



Eid al Adha brought a surge in sales and customer traffic for many retailers in the UAE, but the brisk activity has since settled back down, industry sources say. Retailers are now hoping for another wave of shoppers as the Christmas holiday approaches. "Eid sales were very good," said Keith Flanagan, the general manager of Al Ghurair Retail, which manages brands such as Springfield clothing stores. "It was the first time we saw increases on last year. Post-Eid, its gone back to where it was. But there was a little hint of a silver lining there.

"Certainly, we saw some GCC tourism come back in for the holidays and they were the ones making the difference. I'm just hoping the same thing happens towards the end of December." Retail sales in the Emirates have struggled this year, shifting from the double-digit annual growth of recent years to declines of as much as 40 per cent. But consumer confidence, globally as well as in the UAE, has started to improve in the past two months and shoppers are starting to open their wallets a little wider.

During Eid al Adha, retailers also reaped the benefits of the holiday's proximity to payday and a longer holiday, which allowed for more visitors to come to the Emirates. "We had the best Eid ever; we had record footfall across the board," said Shahram Shamsaee, the senior vice president of retail for Majid Al Futtaim Shopping Malls, which owns the Mall of the Emirates and Deira City Centre. On average, customer traffic was up 16 to 17 per cent from Eid last year and 20 per cent at Mall of the Emirates.

The main driver was a surge in regional tourism to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, said Robert Ziegler, the vice president of the management consultancy AT Kearney in Dubai. "I don't think this is something that is coming from the UAE itself," he said. "This is coming from the GCC visitors over Eid. There was a lot of traffic over Eid. "A lot of people came here and that has definitely driven business up." Most retailers saw double-digit sales growth compared with the holiday last year.

Nilesh Ved, the chairman of the Apparel Group, which is based in Dubai and has 520 stores globally, said the group's sales during Eid were its highest ever, up 20 per cent from last year. V Nandakumar, the corporate communications manager for the Emke Group, which runs Lulu Hypermarkets, said sales were up by 15 to 20 per cent during the holiday this year. "The slowdown in the economy is not really affecting the hypermarket business," he said. "We're not at the luxury end; we're not at the top end of the retail market."

He said Lulu had already started preparing for the anticipated Christmas rush by stocking foods such as turkeys. Ashish Panjabi, the chief operating officer of Jacky's Electronics, said sales were up 23 per cent across all its locations compared with last year's Eid al Adha. "We've had a few upswings this year, but Eid really reminded us of the old days," he said. Sales have returned to pre-Eid levels, but Mr Panjabi was hoping for another holiday-fuelled spike towards the end of the month.

"In a normal scenario, it would start 15 days before Christmas, when you start to see an upswing. This year, because Eid was so close, the Christmas shopping might have been done during those holidays. So, whether the jump will be quite to the scale we normally see is yet to be seen." @Email:aligaya@thenational.ae

German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro
Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books 

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Gender pay parity on track in the UAE

The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.

"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."

Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.

"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.

As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general. 

Teams in the EHL

White Bears, Al Ain Theebs, Dubai Mighty Camels, Abu Dhabi Storms, Abu Dhabi Scorpions and Vipers

Williams at Wimbledon

Venus Williams - 5 titles (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008)

Serena Williams - 7 titles (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016)

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UAE squad to face Ireland

Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri (vice-captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmad, Zawar Farid, CP Rizwaan, Aryan Lakra, Karthik Meiyappan, Alishan Sharafu, Basil Hameed, Kashif Daud, Adithya Shetty, Vriitya Aravind

Tell Me Who I Am

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UAE v Zimbabwe A, 50 over series

Fixtures
Thursday, Nov 9 - 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
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Monday, Nov 13 – 2pm, Dubai International Stadium
Thursday, Nov 16 – 2pm, ICC Academy, Dubai
Saturday, Nov 18 – 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets