Dubai is a top five destination for world's top retailers

How Global is the Business of Retail? London was followed by Paris (49% of retailers) and New York (47%) to round out the top three most popular destinations for retailers, but the surprise entry in fourth position was Dubai, enforcing its importance to the global retail landscape.

CBRE's annual study mapped the global footprint of 280 of the world's top retailers across 67 countries, exploring the globalisation of the retail industry and highlighting differences between sectors and regions, thereby identifying trends in the patterns of global retail expansion. For the first time, the 2009 report also analyses retail globalisation at a city level, allowing for additional scrutiny of retailer expansion strategies.

Europe's major capital cities dominated the survey's ranking of the top 10 most international retail cities, comprising seven of the 10 leading destinations. New York City, Dubai and Tokyo were the exceptions to this rule, representing their respective global regions. Dubai's fourth position ranking, closely trailing New York, confirms its position as a new force in global retailing.

Its rapid emergence as a retail hot spot can be attributed to a number of factors: the recent development boom in Dubai which created significant amounts of new retail space; the region's appetite for international brands; and the network of franchise partners which help retailers to effectively expand into this market. Asian cities were also strongly represented in the global ranking, with Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing all featuring in the top 15 most international retail cities.

The study reveals a full list of the 160 major cities that make the global rankings. The MENA region features nine cities in this list - they are: Dubai (46% of retailers present in the city and 4th ranked on the list); Riyadh (32% and 28th); Jeddah (29% and 45th); Abu Dhabi (28% and 48th); Cairo and Casablanca (both 13% and 110th); Rabat (6% and 140th); Tehran (3% and 151st) and Mashalad (0.4% and 159th).

Mark Morris Jones, Director of Retail, Abu Dhabi, CB Richard Ellis Middle East, said:
"We are delighted to see that Dubai is amongst the top five shopping destinations in the world and comes as no surprise to many of us. In 2008, the amount of leasable shopping centre space rose 28% to 21.4m sq ft, 50% higher than in 2005.

Reports suggest that by end of 2010, that figure will have risen to more than 30m sq ft and 41m sq ft by end of 2012 - the equivalent of 17 Westfield London shopping centres."

Mark Morris Jones adds:

"And whilst Dubai is now experiencing a plateau in response to the global economic downturn, Abu Dhabi is proving to be much more resilient. Its population is one of the most affluent in the region and as the city continues to grow, attracting a flux of foreign workers and tourists, we expect Abu Dhabi to maintain this growth, but at a more sustainable rate. The same can be said of the two key cities in Saudi Arabia. We expect them to be moving up the list of the most international retail destinations in the coming years."