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Shopping Centers Today -> February 2008
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RETAIL IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON
MORE COUNTRIES IN ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST ARE CREATING ANNUAL SHOPPING FESTIVALS IN AN EFFORT TO ATTRACT TOURISTS AND BOOST THEIR ECONOMIES
The Christmas fray is long over in the Western world. But the halls of malls in the East and Middle East will continue to be decked in their own holiday trim for months to come. A growing number of countries are creating annual shopping festivals to boost their economies.
From China to the United Arab Emirates, from Singapore to India, the organizers of these events are using flamboyant marketing, lavish giveaways and entertainment extravaganzas to lure trade and tourism to these regional shopping fests, some of which last up to three months. The enticements include tax-free sales, treasure hunts, rebates and drawings for such prizes as gold or a Rolls-Royce. Merchants enjoy reduced tariffs on the festival items they import.
The 13-year-old Dubai Shopping Festival, in the ultramodern United Arab Emirates metropolis of Dubai, is considered to be among the glitziest of these events, and the Great Singapore Sale, which has been in existence several years longer, produces stellar sales numbers, sources say. Annual shopping festivals have sprung up also in Hong Kong and in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, among other places.
Continuity and retailer participation seem to be the keys to success with these festivals, says Ian Thomas, chairman of Vancouver, British Columbia-based Thomas Consultants. "You have to be relentless in keeping them going, and you also have to find a point of difference," said Thomas, whose firm specializes in the planning and development of large-scale retail projects. "But the common denominator to every one of them is price." Indeed, merchandise discounts can be as generous as 50 to 80 percent, according to a number of festival Web sites. Getting all the merchants on the same page is crucial too, Thomas says. "The Dubai festival has been very successful in getting all the stores to participate," he said.
United Arab Emirates
The Dubai Shopping Festival, created in 1996 to rival the international "shop till you drop" retail destinations of Hong Kong and Singapore, combines duty-free shopping with liberal merchant incentives. Rock-bottom prices and widespread retailer participation throughout Dubai's numerous malls and traditional open-air souks are the result, organizers say.
The festival, which this year began on Jan. 24 and concludes on the 24th of this month, is also huge on family entertainment and children's events, including fireworks and laser shows, theater, street entertainers and fashion shows. "It is a very successful venture and has been copied by other cities in the region with middling success," said Simon Thomson, the principal of Retail International, a London-based shopping center consulting firm that specializes in the Persian Gulf region.
Last year's Dubai festival (Dec. 20, 2006 through Feb. 2, 2007) welcomed 3.5 million visitors, up 7 percent over the previous year's event, according to the Middle East Council of Shopping Centres. And those visitors opened their pocketbooks with abandon, spending some $2.8 billion, a stout 53 percent increase over the previous season, helped by the fact that it ran a couple of weeks longer.
The Dubai Economic Department created the festival to unify the marketing efforts of the city's diverse retail community, says Philip J. McArthur, SCSM, who worked for the Dubai Festival City leisure and retail resort developed by Al-Futtaim Group. In fact, the festival's success inspired Dubai Summer Surprises, a 10-week affair that offers shopping, educational activities and entertainment and uses different themes each week, says McArthur, who has helped Dubai officials organize and expand both festivals. "All the Dubai festivals have definitely set the standard for other cities in the Middle East and Asia," said McArthur. "The city constantly raises the bar for other communities to try to reach."
China
In China the Golden Weeks shopping festivals have comprised a trio of separate, one-week holidays wrapped around the Chinese Lunar New Year, May Day and, in October, National Day. China instituted the three annual, weeklong celebrations in 1999 to boost shopping.
Sales and tourism numbers indicate that the effort has been a success. Buoyed by a Formula One auto race and the Women's World Cup soccer tournament, Shanghai received nearly 5 million visitors during the most recent National Day Golden Week, up 15 percent from the previous year's event. Comparative sales rose a robust 20.5 percent from the 2006 festival to the 2007 festival, according to Xinhua News Agency and the Shanghai Economic Commission. Tourism and sales were also up significantly in Beijing.
Typically, many large household purchases as well as vacations and weddings are concentrated around the Golden Weeks holidays, Xinhua says. In Shanghai some 30,000 weddings were recorded during the October 2007 Golden Week. Paul French, director of Access Asia, a consumer research group, told the press last fall that major appliances, furniture, autos and home electronics and decor sell best during the October Golden Weeks.
This year the Chinese government has made a few changes to the Golden Weeks holidays, in part because tourist and shopping destinations are overwhelmed by the logistical challenges of serving the 1.3 billion people who suddenly have free time on their hands. The May Golden Week has been reduced to five days from seven. And to spread the burden, three holidays for Chinese traditions have been added to the calendar: Ching Ming (devoted to ancestor worship) and Duan Wu and Mid-Autumn (commemorations of ancient heroes and traditions). The Golden Week in October and the New Year holidays will remain essentially unchanged.
The Golden Weeks holidays have generated much leasing and retail growth in a country where a burgeoning market economy has created new disposable income, says Lina Wong, managing director of east China at Colliers International. "Many retail operators choose to open new stores during Golden Weeks to capture the shopping climax," she said. Wong says the newly added festival holidays are likely to ignite stronger sentiment for family reunions, with higher spending on dining, gifts, entertainment and tourism, and less spent on personal consumption. "And now with more holidays, [multiple] shop openings will less likely take place in the same period."
Coinciding with China's Golden Week, the 14th annual Shanghai Tourism Festival and the new Shanghai Import Commodity Fair, last year Shanghai organized the Shanghai Jing'an International Shopping Carnival, its first citywide shopping festival, which ran from Sept. 16 to Oct. 8. Its theme was titled "Luxury Life, Brilliant Jing'an," and about 10,000 local retail businesses participated, according to the Shanghai Commercial Information Center. To mark the opening, athletes from the 2007 Special Olympics joined overseas dignitaries to "swipe" an oversized, faux Shopping Carnival "credit card" at the Jiu Guang department store. The information center says Shanghai has seen a rapid expansion in retail construction over the past few years and now has 47 shopping centers.
Singapore
Singapore's Great Singapore Sale lasts nearly two months. This year, the event's 15th, the sale will run from May 23 to July 20 and involve every retail center in the central shopping belt of Marina Bay, Orchard Bay and the shopping precincts of the Singapore heartlands.
The sale includes such quirky events as the Great Singapore Shopping Challenge, in which two-person teams are given $1,000 to find the best bargains from selected categories at various malls. The winner receives $10,000 in cash and other treasure. Also helping attract shoppers are extended store hours, including special midnight closings, as well as sale-tax rebates and "tourist privilege cards," good for special offers and discounts of up to 70 percent. The Singapore Arts Festival, the Singapore Food Festival and public school vacations always overlap with the sale to ensure the most patronage possible.
Combined retail sales exceeded $5 billion over the 2007 Great Singapore Sale, according to government officials, who also predict a doubling of tourist visits to about 17 million and a tripling of total tourism receipts to $18 billion by 2015.
Hong Kong
The annual Hong Kong Shopping Festival lasts three months and is slated for between June 1 and Aug. 31 this year. The festival has helped transform a traditionally slow summer season into a peak travel time, according to the Hong Kong Tourist Board.
The festival's retail participants hawk luxury items and fashion apparel, electronic gadgetry and traditional Chinese products sold in street markets. Last year's festival introduced what the ITALGuinness World Records book would crown the "World's Largest Permanent Light and Sound Show," with some 40 buildings along Victoria Harbor synchronizing displays of colored lights, all serving as a backdrop for an elaborate series of Symphony of Lights fireworks displays. Prize drawings offered some $250,000 worth of luxury watches, diamonds and the like during the most recent festival.
Japan
Starting in late April or early May, Japan holds its own Golden Week - a set of four national holidays within a seven-day span. It is the year's longest vacation for most Japanese workers, who take the time to crowd shopping malls, airports and sightseeing spots.
India
India's Grand Kerala Shopping Festival, which ran from Dec. 1 through Jan. 15 throughout Kerala state, coincided with the peak tourist season along the tropical Malabar Coast. Some 1,500 retail establishments participated, with hundreds more enjoying the spillover, according to the Kerala State Tourism Agency and media reports.
The event emphasizes traditional Indian handicrafts, spices and handlooms along with more-conventional items, such as jewelry, electronics and home products, as well as restaurant deals and resort stays. Shoppers get chances to win luxury cars, tour packages and other major gifts. This newly created annual festival was designed to rival the better-known Dubai and Hong Kong festivals and to boost Kerala's international stature, officials say. T.M. Thomas Isaac, the state finance minister, says the festival will help transform the region into a major international shopping destination by 2012.
Malaysia
Retail festivity in Malaysia takes the form of the Mega Sale Carnival, which runs from mid-June through August and features a shopping treasure hunt, midnight sales, carnivals and continuous entertainment at its shopping centers, plus deep discounts at street bazaars. In the past, the Metrojaya and Parkson department stores have offered additional breaks to tourists who present their passports.
Thailand
The Amazing Thailand Grand Sale, which typically runs from June 1 through Aug. 31, features discounts of up to 70 percent and other premiums, particularly in designated shopping districts in Bangkok displaying the Grand Sale decal. Also participating are such tourist destinations as Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Phuket and Hat Yai, where the shopping and resort industries have almost fully recovered from the 2004 tsunami, according to Asia Web Direct, an online travel network based in Southeast Asia. The Thai shopping festival was established "to attract tourists to travel and purchase tourism products and services during the period outside of Thailand's main tourism season," stated a tourism official with the business division of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
Jakarta
The month-long Jakarta Great Sale, which this year runs from June 14 to July 14, is growing in scope. Last year nearly 7,800 retailers participated, up 20 percent from the previous year, according to the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Participating merchants and department stores offer discounts of up to 80 percent. Even several hospitals joined in last year with discounted check-ups. Expect to see the expansion of such festivals, observers say, as countries compete for tourists and retail becomes an ever more prominent part of the tourist experience. These days, it seems, it is always Happy Holidays, somewhere in the world.
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