With consumer confidence shifting and mall traffic no longer translating into guaranteed retail sales, brands across the Middle East are being forced to confront an increasingly complex environment.
AUTHORITY by AVANTGARDE is hosting a series of roundtables designed not just to analyse the landscape, but to create space for marketers to exchange practical approaches, shared challenges and lived experiences while navigating uncertainty.
With consumer confidence shifting and mall traffic no longer translating into guaranteed sales, brands across the Middle East are being forced to confront an increasingly complex retail environment.
Building on the first session, which explored how brands should communicate during periods of crisis, the second roundtable brought together more than 30 marketing professionals and industry leaders from across the GCC to tackle a pressing question: how do you bring consumers back into physical retail spaces when confidence is fragile?
Led by Kubi Springer, Head of AUTHORITY by AVANTGARDE and Global Marketing Director at AVANTGARDE, the discussion examined how brands and retailers in the GCC can drive consumers back into physical spaces, rethinking stores as destinations people actively choose to visit, experience and share.
Experience is the new expectation in retail
What became clear early on is that consumers haven’t disappeared, they’re still in malls, but their intent has shifted. They’re browsing more cautiously, spending more selectively and in many cases, and often visiting for reasons that go beyond shopping. Retail, in that sense, is no longer just about transactions. It’s about giving people a reason to engage.
One line captured that shift succinctly.
“The answer is not convenience, the answer is experience,” Springer said.
In the UAE, where malls have long doubled as social and lifestyle destinations, that distinction matters. Convenience has already been won by e-commerce. What physical retail needs to offer now is something that justifies the trip.
For some brands, that’s immersive design or cultural installations. For others, it’s events, collaborations or activations that create a sense of energy in-store. It doesn’t need to look the same across the board, but it does need to feel intentional. if the experience isn’t there, the visit doesn’t happen.
If experience brings people through the door, community is what keeps them coming back.
“It’s not really a nice to have now… it’s what drives brand loyalty,” said Asha Sherwood.
That point feels particularly relevant in the GCC, where retail has always been closely tied to social behaviour. Stores aren’t just places to shop, they’re places to meet, spend time and connect. What’s changing is how consciously brands are leaning into that.
That doesn’t necessarily mean large-scale investment. Smaller activations, local partnerships, and environments where people want to dwell can often create similar impact. The shift is subtle, but important: less focus on immediate conversion, more on building a reason to return.
This shift is also influencing how brands engage their most valuable customers, particularly in the luxury space.
“I wonder if brands need to explore more on a micro level, particularly with CRM.” said Omar Khan. “Luxury brands should really try to leverage their 1,2,1 relationships with their regular clients… personal invitations to visit experiences only in-store could be one way to drive relevant collaborations while also maintaining an air of exclusivity.”
In a more cautious market, that kind of targeted approach feels increasingly relevant. The opportunity is in depth, building relationships that feel deliberate, considered, and genuinely personal.
Evolving luxury in retail, without losing identity
For luxury brands, though, the challenge isn’t about changing direction, it’s about knowing what not to change.
“The best luxury brands stay true to their heritage and never follow a fad,” Springer said.
There’s a temptation, particularly in uncertain times, to react quickly. But for luxury, consistency still carries weight. Evolution needs to feel connected to the brand, not driven by external pressure.
What is changing is how that heritage is expressed. Stores are becoming more experiential, more service-led, and more focused on dwell, spaces where customers are encouraged to spend time, not just transact.
“For luxury brands, when they do it with finesse, when they do it with elegance, when they do it with quiet luxury, they can still tap into some of these ideas, it just needs to be executed with a little bit more nuance,” Springer added.
A connected, more complex consumer
The discussion also highlighted how blurred the lines between digital and physical retail have become.
“Customers don’t choose between digital or traditional anymore. They expect both,” said Stephanie Murphy.
For brands, that means thinking less in channels and more in journeys. Stores are no longer standalone environments, they’re part of a wider ecosystem shaped by social content, online discovery and digital interaction.
More importantly, the conversation moved beyond tools and into behaviour.
“The point is, why are they going to the mall? What is it that they’re going for… and how does the retail experience become that solution?”, Kubi Springer said.
At the same time, physical retail still holds a clear advantage, particularly when it offers something people feel they might miss.
“I really think we need to take lessons from COVID-19,” said Sharanya Paulraj. “People are now home and they need to be entertained… however, people also want to leave their homes for experiences that they absolutely can’t miss, so more emphasis on experiences that are all over their social media feeds and capitalising on the psychology behind FOMO.”
What brands are navigating now isn’t one single behavioural shift, but a more fragmented one.
“Retail is ever evolving… however, with unprecedented times like this, retail now needs to look at from a mobile perspective. People aren’t going to the store, so we bring the store to them into a bespoke shopping experience,” Sannam Jeswanii said.
Consumers are still present but not always in the way brands expect. Some are staying home, others are browsing without buying, and many are shifting between physical and digital depending on context.
“I think that omni channel is here to stay. As brand builders, we can never look at anything in a singular channel… we can never look at it as just what is happening in retail without also thinking about how that is amplified across digital channels,” Springer said.
Taken together, the challenge now is less about driving footfall alone and more about understanding where the customer is and ensuring the experience connects seamlessly across every touchpoint.
By the end of the discussion, there was a clear sense that retail is being reshaped in real time.
It’s no longer enough to rely on location or legacy. Brands need to create spaces people actively choose to engage with, whether through experience, community or simply relevance.
Because in a landscape where attention is harder to earn and behaviour is less predictable, retail is no longer just somewhere you go to buy.
It’s somewhere you go to spend time.
And for brands that don’t adapt, the risk isn’t just lower footfall, it’s fading out of the consumer’s world altogether.
