Authored by one of our talented interns, Shatanu Datta
Global Village, a multi cultural festival park in its 21st Season in 2016/17 is bigger than ever and offers a unique opportunity for retail. Having found the sweet spot between a fair and an amusement park, Global Village attracted 5.3 Million visitors last year. The park is divided into pavilions that each represent a certain country, the landscape of the park changes as new countries are added and pavilions are re-built each year thereby making the experience of revisiting the park new every time.
Global Village offers a plethora of options for an individual to spend a day exploring the park such as digging into diverse cuisines, shopping, enjoying amusement park rides and experiencing live entertainment. Global Village’s entertainment calendar hosted over 12,000 entertainment, street and cultural shows last year. While the primary pull for individuals visiting Global Village is entertainment, the presence of kiosks and retail shops results in ancillary expenditures to a significant extent.
In an extremely competitive retail environment like Dubai, the concept of Global Village as a location that merges shopping with the entertainment in an outdoor setting sets it apart. The potential for setting up retail outlets at Global Village is immense with craftsmen and artisans from all parts of the world converging to display their skills. Ranging from pottery, clay models, handicrafts to caricatures, Global Village provides an immersive experience to consumers in terms of exposure to diverse cultures.
Testament to the success of the concept is the average spend of AED 100 (~£22) on the lower side by each visitor. Taking into account the roughly 5 million people that visit the park every year, the retail potential is immense.
