industriesRetail TrendsSporting Goods

Dubai shows the world how to innovate sports retailing

2 min read

Dubai is is at the heart of the Middle East’s dynamic retail sector and its reputation for retail innovation is well deserved. So we were not suprised when our colleagues in the new Openbravo office in Dubai told us about an ambitious project that is now taking shape in Dubai to build Sport Society, the world’s largest mall dedicated to sports.

The sports mall will have three floors with a total area of 12 football pitches and its expected to open at the beginning of 2010. It is strategically located close to  City Centre Deira, a long-established mall in the old part of Dubai, which has 370 stores.

The ground floor of the mall will have space to host several sporting events while the floors above will be devoted to sports retailing and restaurants.

Prominent international sports brands are expected to be among the anchor tenants, as they are spearheading the move to experiential retail, which is particularly suited to sports retailing — see our earlier post on  how sports retailers such as Under Armour are leading the experiential retail trend.

Sundando Banerjee, head of Openbravo operations in the Middle East and Asia Pacific, believes sports malls like Sport Society are destined to flourish in the region as they deliver memorable experiences and encourage visitor to return.

He says the challenge for retailers is to leverage the boost in footfall that experiential retail  projects seek to generate and  transform those visitors into loyal customers. Here Openbravo can help. For example, we have worked with sporting goods giant Decathlon to help improve its in-store experience and meet the raised expectations of today’s omnichannel shoppers.

Read more about the world’s largest sports mall on Sunando’s LinkedIn post.  If   you want to know how Openbravo is helping leading retailers in the Middle East such as Sharaf DG,  contact Sunando directly.

To find out how Openbravo’s  solution  helps sporting goods retailers compete better in today’s new retail era, visit the section of our website dedicated to sports good retailing.

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