World’s largest in-mall retail festival opens at The Dubai Mall on Thursday

Dubai, UAE; April 29, 2009: The world’s largest in-mall retail and entertainment festival will flag off on Thursday (April 30, 2009) at The Dubai Mall. The Festival@The Dubai Mall, a 30-day shopping and leisure extravaganza, marks the first time in the world that over 900 world-class retailers including 160 food & beverage outlets, join hands for a grand promotion in a mall environment.

Mr Nasser Rafi, Chief Executive Officer, Emaar Malls Group, said: “The month-long event comes at a perfect time to reach out not only to families in the Gulf region but also visitors from the larger Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, Iran and Russia. The festival is timed to offer families an added incentive and invitation to visit the mall during the school holidays.”

Mr Rafi explained: “With 900 retail outlets already open, The Dubai Mall has the highest concentration of the world’s most leading retail brands in a single mall. The festival is therefore unsurpassed globally in terms of retailer participation within a mall environment. Retailers in the mall have extended their full support to the festival, which is organised with the Dubai Shopping Festival Office as the Strategic Partner.”

Leading retailers in The Dubai Mall, several of them operating their flagship stores or having opened their first Middle East outlets, support the Festival, by offering three kinds of shopping deals – Part Sale, Festival Discount and Festival Offers. Mall tenants will display their chosen category of the offers in-store for easy identification by customers. Complementing the retail deals, shoppers also stand to win millions of dirhams in prizes through daily, weekly and grand raffle draws.


Mr. Ramesh Prabhakar, Managing Partner, Rivoli Group LLC, observed that the Festival@The Dubai Mall is a “very positive sign of support from Emaar and the Dubai Shopping Festival Office. We are sure that it will become another key activity in the calendar of Dubai’s retail activities.”

Ms. Colette Shannon, Marketing Manager of the first Waitrose supermarket in the Middle East region in the mall, said the Festival will create top of mind awareness of the mall. “It is a superb mall, and will over time, establish itself as the premium mall destination in Dubai.”

Mr. David Reily, CEO Middle East, RSH, said that all of the company’s stores in the mall will have “cross-store offers” during the Festival with gift vouchers to be presented to customers. “The Dubai Mall is an outstanding destination and I have never seen a mall generate more fresh ideas or energy.”

Visitors to the mall can also take part in a unique ‘Bid 2 Win’ auction to bid for a diverse range of products starting off at an easy AED 1. In another opportunity to win big, the festival will feature a Grand Bentley Raffle, where only 5,000 tickets, priced AED 200 each, will be drawn for a luxurious, four-door Bentley Continental Flying Spur. An array of entertainment activities, across the mall will assure non-stop fun for all visitors.

The opening day of the Festival@The Dubai Mall will witness five lucky winners of raffle draws walking away with prizes of AED 10,000 each. Customers only have to shop for an aggregate AED 500 from any of the retail or F&B outlets during the entire month for obtaining the raffle coupons. The weekly draw for AED 100,000 will be held on Saturday with the winner standing to gain another AED 50,000 if present in the mall at the time of the draw. The sale of coupons for the Grand Bentley Draw will also open on Thursday morning at special stands across the mall.

Items for the Bid 2 Win will be displayed prominently at the mall and visitors only have to check the product code and SMS to 4643 after registering for the bid at the same number. The products for auction will range in prize from AED 10,000 to AED 100,000. Bids will start at AED 1 and will continue till 9pm, with bidders being informed of the status of the bid in real-time. Live updates of the auction will also be displayed in the multimedia screens across the mall.



Several entertainment programmes including musicians and jugglers will regale visitors, who can also tour the Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo and Dubai Ice-Rink for added fun, and watch the testing of The Dubai Fountain, the world’s tallest performing fountain, at the nearby Burj Dubai Lake.

Festival@The Dubai Mall is supported by Dubai Media Inc, Arab Media Group and The Address Hotels + Resorts, a part of the Emaar Hospitality Group. Dubai Shopping Festival Office offers strategic support including executing the various retail and entertainment activities.

World Gold Council proud to extend its participation in DSF 2009

Dubai, UAE (January 19, 2009) – Once again the World Gold Council (WGC) has shown its commitment to participate in the Dubai Shopping Festival 2009 in collaboration with Damas on a massive gold promotion. Since the inception of this festival, WGC has been a very enthusiastic partner of the Dubai Government in supporting its various activities - the most prominent amongst them being the annual Dubai Shopping Festival which has significantly contributed towards the city’s success and recognition as the ‘City of Gold’.

On every purchase of gold and jewellery worth Dh500 at one of the participating Damas stores, the customer will be entitled to one raffle coupon and enter into a daily draw to win gold. This mega promotion offered during the biggest regional shopping bonanza will give five shoppers the chance to win 100gm of gold every day and four lucky winners will also get an opportunity to win the grand prize of 1kg gold each.

Lama Al Saheb, Head of Marketing & PR – Middle East Region commented: "Experts have always said gold is a hedge against inflation, and just as importantly in the UAE, a hedge against the US dollar. Gold has always been a safe haven and with the global economy fast sinking into recession it is coming to the limelight again. Despite the global downturn, the gold market in the UAE remains healthy with the investment sector increasing significantly by end of 2008 as a result of the consumer awareness towards investing in gold.

“The jewellery sector had its ups and downs during the second half of 2008 with a significant increase in Q3 (Dh4.3 billion in the UAE) followed by a slight drop in gold jewellery consumption in Q4 (figures not available yet). However, the increase in the investment sector balances the total gold consumption leading to a stable and healthy gold market in the UAE. Therefore, gold remains the safe investment choice, whether purchased in the form of coins and bars or as gold jewellery. The World Gold Council, urges consumers to make the wise choice this DSF and buy gold jewellery. Given the current global conditions, it is wise to make purchases that store its value."



Yogaani Bhatia, World Gold Council’s Jewellery Marketing Manager, UAE commented: “Dubai’s growing international trade makes it a very attractive hub and the gold trade continues to gain from this escalation. Dubai Shopping Festival persists to lure residents and tourists with its comfortable opulence combining it with exciting activities and the World Gold Council is both proud and pleased to extend its participation with Damas for this successful endeavour.

“Moreover, we strongly believe that providing marketing opportunities through such events escorts the gold industry to seek new heights in showcasing innovative and stylish gold jewellery. Gold’s universal role as a store of value has shone through 2008 helping attract investors and consumers to all forms of gold ownership. This makes World Gold Council optimistic towards 2009 and we assure constant support to the gold trade and industry who share our objective leading to a further market growth and penetration.”

The 14th edition of the grand event is scheduled to take place between January 15th and February 15th 2009 and retailers in the city have reportedly stocked up on the latest and most trendy designs of the season with an eye on international fashion trends. Gold trade particularly continued to receive a boost with Dubai coming into the limelight as a growing international trading hub. As one of the most bankable financial assets, gold has time and again proved itself during times of crisis as an investment of worth. It also adapts itself admirably to present day fashion trends with designers competing with one another to come up with the most innovative, eye-catching designs.

In UAE, the increase in gold demand reached 22% in tonnage terms; equal to 56% increase in value terms. Q3 also saw a record performance as consumer demand increased for gold jewellery with buyers returning to the markets on lower price points, around and below $800, demonstrating the underlying positive sentiment towards gold and its recognition as a store value.

The continued marketing efforts of the World Gold Council, with the jewellery trade and the continued support of the UAE government have played an invaluable and critically vital role in promoting tourism in the country. And with gold outlets stocked with the very latest jewellery trends, this month-long event draws visitors from across the world.

From minimalistic appeal to grand and opulent designs with intricate detailed work, gold jewellery now comes in an array of astonishing hues such as rose, green, purple, blue and black, apart from the eternal favourite yellow and white. Filigree-like cut out designs while heightening volume are also lightweight with a casual, fun quality that’s extremely budget friendly too.

A host of tempting and exciting gold jewellery collections to suit both mood and occasion await shoppers this DSF 2009.

Damas joins hands with World Gold Council to offer enticing DSF deals; Proposes 20kg of grand gold promotions to lucky winners

Dubai, UAE (January 15, 2009) – Damas, the leading international jewellery retailer in the Middle East, in association with World Gold Council is offering 20kg gold in retail promotion during the 32-day Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF).

On every purchase of gold and jewellery worth Dh500 at one of the participating Damas stores, the customer will be entitled to one raffle coupon and enter into a daily draw to win gold. This mega promotion offered during the biggest regional shopping bonanza will give five shoppers the chance to win 100gm of gold every day, and four lucky winners will also get an opportunity to win the grand prize of 1kg gold each.

Tawhid Abdullah, Managing Director of Damas, said: "During DSF, we witness at least 40 per cent increase in retail activities across our outlets. Damas as a support sponsor of DSF has once again entered in this annual event with the commitment to support the initiatives of Dubai Government to promote tourism in the city. Thus on this occasion, on behalf of Damas, I wish to extend our felicitations to the DSF authorities and the government of Dubai for holding this mega event with a lot of success year-after-year and supporting our retail initiatives.”

He added Damas has He added Halways created a lot of buzz during DSF by providing shoppers a rewarding experience and an opportunity to win big. “Though the world is passing through an economic meltdown but I’m sure more and more people will buy gold as it still is considered to be the safest investment,” he said. “Being an enthusiastic partner of the Dubai government, every year during DSF we reward our shoppers through great offers and this year is no different. The festival has grown rapidly in size and scope to become the largest and most dynamic festival of its kind in the world. It organizes hundreds of events, which are enjoyed by people of all ages. Thus once again we are offering the best promotions to benefit our patrons during this shopping extravaganza.”

Dubai has earned the title of ‘City of Gold’, and the continuous marketing efforts of retailers such as Damas and the World Gold Council and the annual promotions of its partners play a large role in creating awareness of this prestigious title locally, and internationally. The council has worked closely with the DSF authorities to promote Dubai as the main centre of gold in the region, since the launch of DSF.

Yogaani Bhatia, World Gold Council’s Jewellery Marketing Manager, UAE commented: “Dubai’s growing international trade makes it a very attractive hub and the gold trade continues to gain from this escalation. Dubai Shopping Festival persists to lure residents and tourists with its comfortable opulence combining it with exciting activities and the World Gold Council is both proud and pleased to extend its participation with Damas for this successful endeavour.

“Moreover, we strongly believe that providing marketing opportunities through such events escorts the gold industry to seek new heights in showcasing innovative and stylish gold jewellery. Gold’s universal role as a store of value has shone through 2008 helping attract investors and consumers to all forms of gold ownership. This makes World Gold Council optimistic towards 2009 and we assure constant support to the gold trade and industry who share our objective leading to a further market growth and penetration.”

World Gold Council’s continued participation in DSF reiterates the success of the event in terms of promoting gold sales. Such promotions have perfectly complemented the shopping festival and provided added-value to shoppers.