Dragon Mart

- THE ROOTS AND CATALYST OF THE CHINESE COMMUNITY IN THE UAE

Dubai, a crossroads between East and West, has long established a strong relationship with China through the UAE’s trade agreement with the republic. This relationship encompasses a rich exchange of knowledge, as well as fosters mutual interests in several sectors including, trade, innovation, culture, technology, and much more. Today, China remains Dubai’s largest trading partner with a total trade volume exceeding Dh107bn. Furthermore, the UAE is China’s most important trade partner in the Arab world and represents 28% of total non-oil trade between China and the region, a testament to the strong bond between both nations.

To further expand on the UAE’s relationship with China, the Dragon Mart complex was built in 2004 as part of an initiative by both governments. The Chinese mega-mall spans a total leasable area of 3.6 million sq, ft. with over 5,000 retailers, an average of 100,000 visitors per day, with an average spend of AED 1,580. Today, Dragon Mart is the world’s largest trading hub for Chinese products outside Mainland China, mainly due to the ease of doing business in a free zone structure and with visa sponsorship packages. The Chinese mega-mall enables retailers to expand their business across the UAE, GCC, Middle East & Africa and tap into the most competitive markets in the region.

The strategic initiative of structuring the Dragon Mart complex included the construction of International City, a neighbourhood that is home to a thriving Chinese community of 500,000, whom have developed deep roots and lifetime bonds with each other. In order to further bring the community together, Nakheel recently launched the Yu Fu Lai Sports Club at Dragon Mart 2 which is solely dedicated to badminton and soon paddle tennis coming to the rooftop. Moreover, Dragon Mart is set to launch a Chinese Entertainment Hub and several social gatherings in celebration of the Chinese culture in Dubai.

Over the years, Dragon Mart has become a leading wholesale distributor, best known for its contribution to SME’s with its competitive prices, providing customers the ability to conveniently sort and discover products across multiple categories including furniture, building materials, games and toys, electronics, fashion and more. In fact, a 2016 survey suggests that the mall drives a sizeable proportion of its footfall from wholesale resellers (14%), who find Dragon Mart as a viable alternative to purchasing Chinese products in bulk quantities, rather than source from China.

Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Nakheel

has been working to launch a virtual licensing initiative, set to support SME businesses without the need to open a brick and mortar in Dubai.

The virtual license will likely come into effect in Q1 2021 and is set to give businesses the freedom to trade from any corner of the world via dragonmart.ae, the largest B2B and B2C wholesale marketplace in Dubai from a variety, scale, cost and volume perspective online. The virtual license will give traders access to logistics and warehouses management by the Chinese government-owned giant, COSCO. This, in addition to Nakheel’s WeChat communication channel, which allows Dragon Mart to communicate their products and offerings as well as receive feedback from users, are tools that will enable further growth for the mega-mall.

As an intrinsically central anchor to an entire population in the UAE, with more than fifteen years of existence, Dragon Mart is a wellestablished trading hub, with a clearly defined value proposition. Looking ahead, Nakheel will continue to leverage Dragon Mart to build a strong community bond within the Chinese population at International city and www.nakheel.com

Dubai as a whole.

Nakheel Malls owns and operates a diverse range of world-class retail experiences with a distinct portfolio of iconic lifestyle, shopping, dining and entertainment destinations across Dubai. Its strong heritage has been a driving force behind its well-established footprint, which spans 1.4 million square metres of gross leasable space. Nakheel Malls’ 14 developments and 5,000

www.dragonmart.ae retailers together shape the lifestyle of 90 million customers every year.

Dragon Mart, the world’s largest trading hub for Chinese products outside Mainland China, opened in December 2007, playing a pivotal role in establishing the strong trade and cultural ties between the UAE and China. Today, Dragon Mart continues to be the focal point of all things Chinese in Dubai.

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