Post Pandemic Observations

Gogi George has been working in the retail sector in the Middle East region for the past 20+ years. He is the GM for Project Development and Leasing for Lulu Group International and oversees retail developments for the group in Oman. A veteran and turnaround specialist in mall retail development and redevelopment, Gogi has been in a leadership role for several iconic projects and has been instrumental in the multiple expansions of Oman Avenues Mall including the new IKEA anchored expansion to name a few.

GOGI GEORGE

General Manager, Development & Leasing OMAN AVENUES MALL LULU GROUP INTERNATIONAL MECS+R Board Member

COVID had a significant impact on the way we live, how we conduct our lives and how we have adapted to new and emerging retail trends. In the year 2020, COVID resulted in significant business disruptions in the retail sector in Oman. In fact, there are some sectors that have been fully closed for business for more than 270 days due to the containment efforts. 2021 had also a significant impact, however, the latter part of the year was in a waning stage. The start of 2022 offered a glimmer of hope for the sector with the majority of restrictions being relaxed including capacity restrictions in parking and mall entries, allowing the major foot to fall centric areas like FECs, Restaurants, Cinemas etc. to operate with minimal restrictions.

What are the notable post-pandemic behaviours visible?

E-commerce emergence as an alternative to brickand-mortar business was accelerated during the pandemic, however, retail is slowly returning to the traditional format, understandably due to the experiential and engaging behaviours missing on e-commerce platforms. While e-commerce businesses are predominantly driven by convenience,

accessibility and range of products, customers in Oman to a large extent are driven by the desire to physically experience shopping which cannot be easily replaced by E-commerce. Shopping behaviours are to a large extent dependent on weather conditions in the Middle East wherein the summer season prompts more regular mall visits for local residents as malls are considered a preferred lifestyle pursuit. We are seeing steady business build-up for experiential formats in some categories especially restaurants, entertainment, and leisure venues. Like to like data reveals double-digit growth in footfall and revenue numbers post-pandemic. Cinemas were one of the areas which had a profound impact during the pandemic, not only due to the restrictions on attendance, but also due to the fact that there were very few movie titles or content being available for cinemas. The beginning of 2022 has seen a flurry of new releases owing to the backlogs which are reflected in improved attendance numbers for cinemas. In addition to this is also the fact that moviegoers are more confident due to the low levels of COVID prevalence during current times.

Permanent shifts in some behaviours – cashless transactions are here to stay for good, and this is visible from reduced ATM transactions as well as large numbers of banks now moving their focus on payment services and solutions. Safe and hygienic environment is now considered an essential part for most mall visitors to be comfortable. Retailers are now exploring new venues for marketing their products including using AI and data-driven marketing efforts. There has been a paradigm shift from traditional marketing toward digital marketing drives. Disruptions are evident on logistics and supply chain fronts – multiple retail formats are reporting key issues with logistics and supply chain disruptions owing to backlogs, logistics and manufacturing issues in many industrial hubs. These are evidently going to affect the inventory situation with retailers as well as impact new store openings.

Retail being very dynamic, the experiential elements around retail would also be very dynamic and experience-driven.