Eros electronics kiosk at Al Wahda Mall.
Eros electronics kiosk at Al Wahda Mall.

Retailers put great stock in little shops



Retailers are moving to smaller kiosk stores in malls to be closer to high-traffic areas and generate more revenue with lower rents, industry insiders say. Eros Group, which sells Samsung and Hitachi, has opened two kiosks in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah in the past two months and planned to open two or three more by the end of the year, said Deepak Babani, the company's chief executive.

"The traffic near the kiosks is quite good so you have a lot of purchases which are instantaneous," Mr Babani said. "It's in the centre of the mall and it attracts much more traffic because it's open on at least three sides, sometimes four sides." Retail sales in the UAE have been hit hard by the economic downturn and were down by as much as 40 per cent in the first half of this year, compared with the first half of last year.

Retailers have been forced to become more creative to grab a slice of shrinking sales, while keeping a close eye on costs. Mr Babani said the smaller-format booths, which sell electronics such as mobile phones, Mp3 players and cameras, were a major part of Eros's expansion this year because they enabled it to have a presence in the better malls. It costs more per square foot, he said, but the money spent produced bigger results.

"A kiosk is normally not more than two metres or three metres wide, so you're talking about a small space," he said. "But for the space that you occupy, the revenue is much higher." Jinshad Haziy, the Dubai-based marketing co-ordinator for InstoreMasters, which makes retail booths, said kiosk sales were 20 per cent higher so far this year than the company's other products, such as digital signs and exhibition stands.

"Even though our customers' budget is less now, people are buying in the fast moving consumer goods department," Mr Haziy said. Grand Optics opened its first booth, Grand Sunglasses, on the ground floor of Dubai Mall two weeks ago to be closer to the high traffic, said Murad Sharabati, the eyewear retailer's national manager. This booth also helped to draw attention to Grand Optics' other location in Dubai Mall on the second floor, which saw less traffic, Mr Sharabati said.

Mark Morris-Jones, the senior director for retail and industrial property in MENA for the property firm CB Richard Ellis, said retail kiosks were becoming more common as newer shopping centres such as Dubai Mall had wide hallways that were able to accommodate them. As well, retail kiosks have become more sophisticated over the years, with booths featuring display cases and lighting, he said. Kiosks are also a cheap way for retailers and landlords to boost sales, Mr Morris-Jones said, adding that neither parties needed to spend thousands of dirhams to fit out a full shop.

"You bring a kiosk, which is ready made, plug it into a socket in the floor - that's it," he said. "It's relatively inexpensive for the retailer and landlord to get these things up and running. And from the landlord's point of view, there is very little or no capital required and the rent goes pretty much to the bottom line." aligaya@thenational.ae

Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5

Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
The specs

Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)

Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode

Directors: Raj & DK

Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon

Rating: 4/5

Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

'Champions'

Director: Manuel Calvo
Stars: Yassir Al Saggaf and Fatima Al Banawi
Rating: 2/5
 

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

PROFILE OF SWVL

Started: April 2017

Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Sector: transport

Size: 450 employees

Investment: approximately $80 million

Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani

VEZEETA PROFILE

Date started: 2012

Founder: Amir Barsoum

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: HealthTech / MedTech

Size: 300 employees

Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)

Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC

The chef's advice

Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.

“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”

Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.

The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.

Thank You for Banking with Us

Director: Laila Abbas

Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum

Rating: 4/5

MWTC

Tickets start from Dh100 for adults and are now on sale at www.ticketmaster.ae and Virgin Megastores across the UAE. Three-day and travel packages are also available at 20 per cent discount.

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57%20Seconds
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding

Electoral College Victory

Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate. 

 

Popular Vote Tally

The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.

SPECS

Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now

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