Dubai Mall store is Bebe’s best selling unit globally

Dubai is among the top international markets for the American fashion brand Bebe, overtaking other mature retail des- tinations like the United States in terms of sales, a senior official has revealed.

“The Dubai Mall store is the number one selling store of Bebe in the world, even surpassing those in the US. Even our stores in New York and Los Angeles do not sell compared to this store,” Bebe’s senior vice president of international business Richard Pierson told Gulf Business during the launch of Bebe’s upgraded store at the mall.

“We see this as a very important market as we not only have a good customer base in the Gulf region but we get customers from all over the world. The footfall that comes through Dubai Mall has visitors from everywhere. So it gives us an opportunity to showcase our brand to people from everywhere.”

Bebe’s Dubai outlets continue to be successful mainly due to the price points offered to customers, Pierson said.
“Out of all the international markets, Dubai is the least expensive so if I have customers coming in from Russia, they can come here and find products a lot cheaper- since our clothes are expensive there.”

But despite Pierson’s optimism, he admitted that there has been a slowdown in sales across Bebe’s Dubai outlets as retail spending from tourists, especially Russian visitors, slowed.

Pierson also noted the impact of the geopolitical situation in the Middle East on retail sales.

“This (United Arab Emirates) market is not as affected as others in Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon where we have part- nerships. Those markets have suffered greatly. The drop in sales in the UAE can be contributed to multiple factors including the Russian currency devaluation, while ISIL is slowing down the tourism coming out of the US and Europe to parts of the Middle East. It is definitely affecting us and as it prolongs it will continue to affect us.”

In order to offset the fall in retail sales in Middle East locations, the firm is planning to launch an online store this year.

“In the UAE, we are going to launch online sales this month and partner with Sivvi. We are hoping that it will be our top store once it is mature. But more than that it is an opportunity to reach out to cities in Saudi Arabia, which we can’t reach as free standing stores. There are customers out there, who we cannot reach, and we are hoping that the online stores will be a way to widen sales in countries such as Saudi Arabia.”