Visual Merchandising in Abu Dhabi
posted September 3, 2009 - 1:56pm
Much of North America and Europe has been commercialized by people looking to make grandiose amounts of money from people very much like them. A big part of this commercialization is from Visual Merchandisers and they do their job well, here in the West. But
take the same strategies from the US and Europe and apply them to Muslim Nations and you will have a very different, even a detrimental effect to the sales of the company. Abu Dhabi, for instance, the capital and second most populous city in the United Arab Emirates would not take kindly to Victoria’s Secret models baring all on the screen of their televisions.
Culture
The Muslim culture is about function as opposed to form as in the US. You want your merchandising to reflect the durability and versatility of a product. Additionally, you want to cater to the costumer.
Strategies
Be creative! For instance, with Abu Dhabi being the second most populous city in the UAE you’re going to have a lot of people to advertise to. This being said, use what you have to get what you want. You have people. Use the shirts they wear or the cars they drive to broadcast the product you want to sell.
Social Networking
With sites like Facebook and Myspace growing by the day, you’ll want to be one of the first on the bandwagon if you want to sell your products in Abu Dhabi. You’ll most likely want to employ a different strategy for merchandising on the social networking sites than you would in person. The younger people who use the sites will be more open minded to the western way of thinking and thus more influenced by the product in a Western marketed way.
Competition
How are you going to differentiate your product from the other people selling a similar product? This is where versatility and function come into play. In this case, you want your widget to play flute as well as guitar, compared to the widget that only plays guitar.
Deals, Not Brands
Brand names are not important with Muslim countries. There is a sense of loyalty with Muslim consumers, however, if the loyal brand is not going to service the costumer as well as a rival brand, they will switch. You need to be able to deal with your customers. Be fluid in your offers and be willing to barter. And make that known in your advertising!
In conclusion, you have to take a very different approach in your merchandising with Abu Dhabi, as well as any Muslim country. The people there are different, but in the end, we are all the same, respect is KEY when it comes to commerce.
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