Villa Moda Chairman talks exclusively to Oxford Business Group

In an exclusive interview with Oxford Business Group (OBG), Sheikh Majed J Al Sabah said it was up to retailers to win back consumers who had become frustrated with a predictable shopping experience. "Retail has become boring," he said. "There has been an oversupply of repetitive concepts and product ranges. There is little to no excitement."

"Sheikh Majed urged retailers to consider original strategies rather than more of the same, such as moving away from targeting generic audiences and focusing instead on attracting niche markets. "Right now the market requires thinking outside the box,"

he said.

The interview features in The Report: Kuwait 2009, the most comprehensive and accurate review of the country's economy available, which is published by OBG. Rated as the premier source of information for foreign direct investment into the country's economy, it is a vital guide to the many facets of Kuwait, including its macroeconomics, infrastructure, political landscape, banking and sectoral developments.

The Report: Kuwait 2009 has been produced by a team of OBG analysts based in Kuwait who conducted some 200 interviews with leading political, business and economic figures.

Sheikh Majed said it would be a mistake to assume that new shopping trends in the West were being mirrored in the Gulf. "This part of the world has its own tastes, cultural rules and its own lifestyle," he said. "One cannot simply impose what may be hot or trendy in the West onto this market."

He gave the example of online shopping which, he said, was proving increasingly popular in the West where saving time was a priority. "However, people in this part of the world have so much free time that shopping has become a part of their lifestyle," he said. "People essentially want to come and enjoy the shopping experience. Therefore, we are obliged to cater to that trend."

Sheikh Majed admitted that one of the greatest challenges facing the sector was trying to ensure real estate developers met the retail market's demands. Developers, he said, were often not attentive to retailers' needs, and unfortunately a clash of egos within the two sectors has led to there being little room for compromise. The problem was most evident in the luxury retail sector, which Sheikh Majed described as severely underdeveloped in the Gulf.

"Luxury retailers can be very particular and while developers often claim to cater to the luxury market they often fail to meet our specific requirements," he said. This was one of the reasons, Sheikh Majed said, that Villa Moda decided to develop its own retail destinations and real estate developments.

Available in print form and online, The Report: Kuwait 2009 forms part of the range of OBG's publications renowned as leading sources of information on developing and emerging economies around the world.