Dubai’s long-haul operator Emirates Airline has unveiled its first retail concept store ‘Emirates World’ in the Jumeirah district of Dubai.
As part of its retail investment, the company also confirmed its plans to spend AED 100 million ($27.2 million) during the next three years.
COO of Emirates Airlines, Adnan Kazim, said: “The opening of this latest concept store is an expression of our retail vision for the future and marks the first of several stores we’ll be opening in the coming years across our network.”
“This store brings a modern look and feel, advanced technology and more personalisation in terms of what customers can get. We brought in technology as part of revamp where you can see how the seat will look onboard the A380 before you purchase the ticket. There is a touch screen where customers can get information about destinations and also take a selfie with the destination.”
The new concept store, spanning 3,000 square feet, is meant for customers to “shop for all their travel needs in a lounge-like environment”, the airline said in a statement.
The store features curated merchandise and travel accessories and enable customers to interact with travel consultants offering one-stop-shop services such as airline ticketing and customer support related to Emirates Holidays and Skywards.
The retail store experience framework will fall into three categories, including the full-fledged ‘Emirates World’ concept, the Travel Store model and Travel Kiosks. The selection of the best retail store model in each market will be based on customer preferences.
“Today, we are talking about 7-8 per cent of total revenues coming from retail and we are expanding. With the new revamp we are making, this will bring us more revenues and also closer to customers,” said Mr Kazim.
The airline reported this month a half-year profit of AED 4 billion, a turnaround from last year’s loss of AED 5.8 billion. Its revenue and operating income shot up by 131 per cent to AED 50.1 billion.
The strong turnaround was driven by strong passenger demand for international travel across several markets.
Earlier this month, Emirates announced an exclusive partnership with Uplift- the leading enterprise buy-now-pay-later solution serving the world’s top travel and retail brands.
Passengers booking flights on Emirates can now spread the cost of their travel over time with simple, affordable monthly instalments through Uplift.
