Eyeing Luxury Market Growth

Eyeing Luxury Market Growth

Patrick Chalhoub, co-CEO of The Chalhoub Group, talks about the region’s luxury goods market and vision for the future.

May 23, 2012 3:22 by kippreport

Our customers, especially in the Middle East, are, and especially for Arab customers, young [customers] who can afford [luxury]. They are very well connected and very aware, travelling the whole world, going on the web, reading newspapers and magazines. So I think there is much more awareness today of luxury than in many other parts of the world. They may not fully understand the history of the brand or what goes into making that product special, but they definitely are well aware of the fashion trends, and I would say they are absolute fashionistas. Where we need to work more is on the brand values and its culture.

What percentage of the Middle East market is the GCC?
The GCC is 85 percent – 90 percent of the overall market. When you speak of the GCC, we have to consider two things. One is that, except in Dubai, 90 percent-plus of customers are local GCC citizens GCC customers are also very strong customers worldwide. The number one customer in London is not Chinese, American or Japanese. Saudi spends six times more than any other nationality and 20 times more than the British. The second largest group of buyers are from Kuwait and the sixth largest are from the UAE. If you consider the whole GCC, by far they are the largest buyers in London, Paris or Milan.

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