Smart Dubai launches new data initiative to strengthen emirate’s retail sector

Smart Dubai has partnered with three entities, Dubai Department of Economic Development, retail group Majid Al Futtaim and telecom operator du, for a new joint data initiative pertinent to the retail sector.

The project is part of a strategy to strengthen ties between public and private sectors on data, a statement said.

The initiative will examine anonymised and aggregated datasets to gauge catchment areas and visitor flows in one of Dubai’s largest shopping malls, a statement said. While the name of the mall was not revealed, one of the biggest malls operated by Majid Al Futtaim is Mall of the Emirates in Al Barsha.

Additionally, the initiative will also view spending or visiting patterns, and other behaviours that underpin the retail sector.

Aisha Bint Butti bin Bishr, director general, Smart Dubai said: “The initiative we are launching is a pragmatic step to materialise the objectives of the private sector data engagement strategy, which brings the public and private sectors together to collaborate on data.”

“Indeed, wholesale and retail was by far the emirate’s largest sector in 2018, according to figures by the Dubai Statistics Centre. It accounted for 26.4 per cent of GDP – more than double the contribution of the second sector in line, transportation and storage, which accounted for just 12.3 per cent.”

Joe Abi Akl, acting chief corporate development officer, Majid Al Futtaim – Holding, said: “Given the retail sectors’ contribution to the city’s GDP, we can facilitate further economic growth through this initiative, while also improving infrastructure planning and providing consumers with more tailored and personalised experiences.”

Smart Dubai has a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Majid Al Futtaim to enhance data and analytics capabilities since December 2017, the statement said.

Transparent governance and regulations, operational excellence, commercialisation, and people and engagement are the private sector data engagement strategy’s four underlying themes, the statement added.

In October, Smart Dubai hailed 14 entities that were most-compliant with sharing data, as part of the ‘Data First’ challenge, launched in July this year. A total of 35 government and semi-government entities had participated in the challenge.

Read more: Smart Dubai lists 14 most data-compliant entities