First day at Arab Luxury World conference indicates industry shake-up

The third edition of Arab Luxury World had a successful first day today, rich with valuable insights and learnings for those in attendance. Organised by Mediaquest, the two-day conference is taking place at The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi on June 1 and 2. More than 30 panel discussions, presentations and private sessions provide an in-depth exploration of the latest ideas and trends in the luxury industry.

In the morning’s Keynote Address, the Co-CEO of Chalhoub Group, Patrick Chalhoub, spoke about the new challenges and realities of the GCC region’s luxury industry. The packed first day conference agenda’s overarching theme was ‘The New Normal’, which considered how the drop in tourist revenues in the GCC region has further pushed the need for regional expansion for many brands and retailers. Key agenda highlights included ‘GCC Outlook’, an analysis of oil prices, government budgets and subsequent effects on the luxury market; ‘Digital Strategy’, an analysis of the digital transformation and its impact on the premium goods and services industry; ‘Luxury Brands and Programmatic: Redefining the Model’, which evaluated how pragmatic advertising has transformed the online ad-buying model; and ‘Fashion Trends’, which reflected upon emerging fashion and designer trends. 

A number of choice industry-leading speakers at the event included Deloitte Senior Tax Partner, Justin Whitehouse; HP inc.’s Global Head for Alliances, Partnerships and Customer Marketing, Jean Pierre Le Calvez; and Chief Executive Officer Dubai Design and Fashion Council, Nez Gebreel. Event highlights widely anticipated on the event’s forthcoming second day include ‘From Product to Emotion’, discussing how brands can reconnect with Arab consumers; and ‘Influencers’, analyzing campaigns from the region and abroad that featured influencers.

Arab Luxury World sees 700 regional and global professionals from the premium goods and services sector congregate in Dubai to discuss problems and offer solutions to all of the industry’s stakeholders. It brings together luxury brands, agents, distributors, mall operators and service providers to the luxury industry all under one roof, where they discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the industry. Delegates seek to understand consumers' insights through unique research, to make sense of major disruptions in the business of luxury and to find ways to achieve growth.

Co-CEO of Mediaquest, Julien Hawari, commented: “The 2016 Arab Luxury World conference has brought together the top luxury business minds from both across the region and globally, to discuss the challenges, opportunities and potential of the premium and ultra-premium goods and services markets. For this year’s conference, the overarching theme was ‘The New Normal’.”

‘The New Normal’ theme was of great value to attendees, with expansive discussions about how the resetting of regional business, along with the rationalisation of costs in some cities with the development in new markets, requires a new retail strategy and marketing approach in the region. Another key highlight which was of particular interest was the GCC outlook, a regional analysis taking into account the current downturn in oil prices, government budgets and the overall effect on the luxury market. This is extremely topical and links into a current industry-wide trend of companies working hard to create new job opportunities in this challenging environment.

This year’s conference is sponsored by Chalhoub Group, INFINITI, OMD, Laha magazine and Jamalouki magazine.

Session sponsors for this year are Hublot, Instagram, Mindshare and Nespresso.