Curiouser and curiouser

Curiouser and curiouser

As companies look for a new place and function in people’s lives, Kipp hopes they don’t ever come out of the changing rabbit hole that is consumerism.

March 22, 2011 2:59 by Precious de Leon

The ‘bigger is better’ trend may just be seeing its final days in global consumerist history, as current financial times give way to posterity.

Kipp applauded plans to reduce the size of Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi last week as a sign of a more realistic view in the city’s goals towards retail and property, in particular, and business, in general.

A sluggish global market growth is continually forcing companies to change their ‘bigger is better’ business models. And as we all look beyond consumerism into experientialism, firms can’t help but follow us down this rabbit hole, looking for new ways to keep us interested.

Good things come in smaller packages, anyway, right? And just like Alice in Wonderland who ate the cake and shrank in size, some companies looking to go for ‘less is more’.

Wal-Mart, for example, just announced it is looking at developing of smaller-format stores over the next three years, according to Gulf News. About 30-40 Express stores are planned across the US this year, starting in Chicago. These are less than a tenth the size of the company’s average supercentre.

“The recent tepid US sales growth increases the urgency to explore new store formats,” Tim Hoyle, director of research at Haverford Investments was quoted in the article. “But I remain skeptical that they could develop enough real estate in the near-term to move the needle.”

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Tags: Abu Dhabi, Alice, Alice in Wonderland, automotive, brands, consumer, consumerism, Dubai, Middle East, rabbit hole, Retail, UAE, Wonderland, world