GIES Virtual Series: It’s not Digital, it’s not Retail, it’s New Age, Say Experts at Fifth Session

The Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC), in collaboration with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Dubai Chamber) and in strategic partnership with Refinitiv, recently hosted the fifth session of the GIES Virtual Series. Structured in the format of a workshop, the webinar examined the new age of digital retail and drew the participation of key industry stakeholders.

Welcoming participants and attendees, Abdulla Mohammed Al Awar, CEO of DIEDC, said: “The ecommerce and digital retail sector have witnessed tremendous shifts and formidable growth, especially in light of the pandemic. Even customers who prefer traditional shopping, have had no alternative but to shop online. Now, following their experience, it will be interesting to see if they pivot to shopping online more often. Although the pandemic in itself is not positive in nature, this result could be considered a positive outcome. These are interesting times, and through hosting the GIES Virtual Series, DIEDC continues to highlight key insights that are likely to benefit the Islamic economy ecosystem as a whole. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on how the shifts in digital retail will impact the Islamic economy.”

Moderated by Peter Gould, Chief Design Officer at Gould Studio, the workshop was headlined by Sarah Ansari, CEO of Artizara, Muhammed Mekki, Founding Partner at AstroLabs, and Layal Akouri, Regional Director for MENA, USA, and Europe at Modanisa.

Sarah Ansari pointed out that although the topic is the new age of digital retail in light of the pandemic, the key focus here was not the pandemic, nor digital, nor retail, but rather the new age. She said: “We are going through a very exciting new age where the world is shifting all around us at warp speed, and at the heart of this new age is the idea that everything, including us as humans, can be digitised – my physical attributes, my likes and dislikes, my thoughts and feelings, are all bits of data. What does all this mean? Who are we? Where are we headed? Why do we do what we do? The pandemic has given us time to reflect on the ‘why’ of things, and if we can figure out the why, then the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ will fall into place. That’s true for us in our individual and professional lives.”

She questioned whether the current situation is a crisis or an opportunity - and whether businesses would continue to merely survive or step up and thrive in this new age retail rollercoaster? Sarah Ansari attributed the answer to time.

She added: “We want to enjoy the ride, and we want our legacy to be memorable. For that, we need to understand why we’re on this rollercoaster in the first place. To thrive, we will need to be different from the faceless giants of commerce that are as much in the business of selling us as they are in the business of selling products. It is said that Amazon perfected the act of buying but killed the art of shopping. It is massive, standardised, and superbly convenient. We all shop on Amazon, but when was the last time buying something on Amazon gave you a warm feeling in your heart?”

She explained that to thrive as an independent business in a world that is dominated by ecommerce giants, we must understand and satisfy basic human needs, in more than a superficial manner –  recognition: customers have a unique identity as human beings and are not just bits of data; connection: customers need to be part of a community and something bigger; intimacy: customers need personal relationships in their interactions; beauty: humans have a natural affinity for beauty and customers want to experience beauty in their interactions with businesses.

In closing, she said: “We need a bigger purpose in life, what is our bigger mission? How does that align with our customers? If you can answer these questions, you’ll be poised to not just survive, but thrive, in the new digital age.”

Muhammed Mekki advised entrepreneurs to avoid two fundamental mistakes – spending too long perfecting the platform and brand before launching, and not speaking to customers early on. He said: “One might have an idea in mind and they immediately get to translating that vision via tech - trying to create a perfect version of their dream concept. Then, after much delay and extensive investment, they take it to market. More important than the tech platform and specific filtration features is thinking about what the end user experience is, given what you’re trying to achieve.”

For her part, Layal Akouri perceived a noticeable change in shopping preferences and behaviours – with most people now shopping for essentials rather than luxuries. She said: “Unfortunately, many people lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic, but they still need to buy essentials. This was an important insight for ecommerce businesses.”

A poll conducted during the webinar to determine the views of the attendees on which area of digital retail they expect to see the most growth, found that 35 per cent of the audience believe that independent brand websites and ecommerce platforms will be the biggest winners, while 25 per cent expect to see major global platforms, such as Amazon, experience the most growth. Furthermore, 20 per cent foresee digital retail growth in direct social media sales, such as via Instagram and Facebook, and 13 per cent expect to see new innovative forms of online purchasing.

DIEDC also announced that the sixth and final session of the GIES Virtual Series, titled ‘Digitalization of Banking: Lessons Learned from 2020’, is scheduled for Tuesday, 10 November at 1pm (UAE time).

All those interested in joining this global conversation can do so through registering on the GIES Summit website (link here).