Luxury malls in Dubai and Riyadh are booming while China cools; LVMH parks a “cruise‑liner” flagship in downtown Shanghai; Australian retail sales jump—but the growth comes from Shein, Temu and other bargain imports; Reliance Retail strikes a game‑changing partnership with Shein, blending Indian and Chinese fast‑fashion supply; and live‑commerce numbers in Southeast Asia prove the next big shopping format is travelling east‑to‑west.
🎙️ What we cover
Middle‑East luxury surge – Dubai Mall draws 111 M visitors; Saudi’s Solitaire & Avenue Mall projects; VIP privacy as standard.
LVMH’s cruise‑ship flagship, Shanghai – experiential retail over product, culture as moat.
Australia’s “surge” in retail sales – ABS data shows +3.3 % YOY, driven 11 % by bargain platforms (Shein, Temu).
Shein × Reliance Retail – China’s fast‑fashion giant taps Indian manufacturing; dual‑sourced supply will flood global markets.
Live‑commerce wave – Alibaba Singles’ Day, L’Oréal Malaysia 24‑hour record, 14 live streams from Jakarta, why Gen Z will force adoption in the West.
Keywords: Gulf luxury market, Dubai mall expansion, LVMH flagship Shanghai, Australian retail statistics, Shein Reliance partnership, fast‑fashion supply chain, live commerce Southeast Asia, APAC retail trends, Five Things Friday podcast.
00:00 Intro – colds, coffees, catch‑up
00:51 Thing 1 – Gulf luxury boom & mall expansion
05:14 Thing 2 – LVMH “cruise‑liner” flagship in Shanghai
10:59 Thing 3 – Australian retail ‘surge’ driven by bargain imports
17:08 Thing 4 – Shein × Reliance Retail partnership, India + China supply scale
22:55 Thing 5 – Live‑commerce numbers & east‑to‑west adoption
29:12 Rapid‑fire reactions & next‑week teaser
Follow and rate for a weekly shot of retail clarity.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome back to another fantastic edition of
Five Things Friday 8 pack edition with my wonderful Co
host Reef Quail and Laura Doonan.
Hi, guys. Hello, Alex.
How are you? Hello.
Good. How are you both?
Doing I've I've actually for after.
After a month of the event beingpassed, almost a month past the
event, I've finally succumbed toa cold.
(00:22):
I've got a head cold. OK, it took it took took three
or four weeks, but I'm there nowI'm I'm, I'm finally I have, you
know, that was I, I felt like a decompressed enough to have a
shave. And and Laura, how are you
doing? I'm good, I'm good.
OK, So I'm going to start this week.
So the one thing that is super interesting is this Middle East
(00:45):
focus on luxury and how luxury sales defies the global slowdown
in luxury. And so while stall, while sales
stall in places like China and the US, the Gulf region is still
going ahead. Luxury spend rose 6% year on
year in 2024, reaching 12.8 billion.
(01:05):
And as the global market contracted by 2%, forecasts for
the region have sales at 15 billion by 2027, which again, I,
I, I sure understand why there'sso much focus in, in the region,
but more in, again, when you break that down and you look at
malls and you heard me talk about malls or shopping centres
(01:29):
as dopamine villages. Well, these are malls as
cultural cornerstone and growth drivers, which sort of physical
retail still remains dominant. Great news for all across the
Gulf, with Saudi Arabia expectedto see over 80% of fashion and
luxury transactions happen in malls.
By Saudi that is going completely crazy.
(01:52):
It's a real there's a real transformation at me in the
Middle East it. Might be an appropriate time to
drop a plug for the five things Friday made the least edition
that will be coming out as well.Fantastic.
Well, there is a There's a lot of cool things happening out
there. Yeah.
So I've got a couple of people who are 1 based in Saudi, 1
based in Dubai and we're going to look at that anyway.
(02:12):
I'm not going to talk about that, but that that will be
coming. So when you look at Dubai Mall
and the picture that you're looking at is the new extension
to the Dubai Mall. It attracts and standing 111
million visitors in 2024, which sort of capturing virtually all
international tourists in the city.
(02:33):
And it's a luxury mall expansionwhich is around 408 million
dedicated to new high end retailspaces.
So there is no stock. This is just continued growth.
And I think the world's millionaires need somewhere to
go above and beyond the South ofFrance.
When you look at when we zoom into Saudi Arabia, going back to
(02:54):
what Reef was said, you see thatin Riyadh.
It's a sort of rapidly appearingas a luxury destination with
landmark developments, again, physical developments, a
solitaire, which we'll be launching this year and feature
luxury brands and experiential retail And the Avenue Malls of
Saudi, which is very similar to again what you were heard me
(03:16):
talking about the Dopamine villages, which is Westfield's
up and coming entries in the Saudis ambitious retail future.
And then all of these are sort of underpinned with VIP
experiences that are sort of enticing the elite consumers who
now expect specifically culturally, they expect privacy,
(03:37):
they expect personalization, they want prestige as a
standard, not as an option. So, you know, culturally, they
do, you know, female shoppers have to shop separately, but
these, these things have always been like an added option.
And now that's just expected as an, as an, a standard for
transformational experiences andeven digital first brands like
(04:00):
Onassis that have established VIP physical suites to match
this type of demand. And, you know, you would think,
you know, all of this focus on physical.
Does that mean tech is not happening?
But they're still leaning into tech innovation Wick in the sort
of in this new luxury paradigm, which looks at AI stylist NFT
(04:21):
based products, immersive digital experiences beyond the
knob, you know, beyond what we see as sort of these sort one
off marketing activations with 55% of the MENA region, a
population under the age of 30, luxury to this sort of find
themselves having to integrate digital, sophisticated and
(04:44):
cultural experiences. But sorry, having cultural
sensitivity to main relevance and leadership.
And so, you know, GG has transitioned from peripheral
luxury market into a trend setting market.
And I think we're just going to see that more and more over the
next three or four years, which will sort of define how luxury
brands such as LVMH approach personal immersive experiences,
(05:10):
which I think they can sort of borrow and take to the world.
So that's specifically on on on Dubai and the and the Mall of
Dubai and its expansion. But another I'll just share this
video with you, which is just mind blowing.
Thanks to this is the Shanghai eye on YouTube.
So you know, go get over to YouTube and watch their video,
(05:32):
but I'll share it here with you.And this is Louis Vuitton's
flagship store appearing in downtown Shanghai.
And this is not a rendered, you know, CGI.
This is the store. It is a luxury cruise line of
Etsy meets a height structure. And you know, they interview
(05:52):
these two local. This is a French guy who
tourists who they just sort of you know, he was pretty much
mind blown. And for those who are based in
Europe, they may have been to chance Alizee.
They may may have seen the LVMH flagship store in Paris, which
is the iconic Louis Vuitton suitcases stacked together, but
(06:14):
this is just taking it to a complete different level.
It's just incredible when you look at why they're doing that,
the sort of top five strategic insights behind what's going on
here. This is LVMH experience over
product, which is the sort of new luxury blueprint LVMH is.
And it's sort of peers in the industry are prioritising
(06:37):
creating emotional resonance between their experience over
product. And I think again, I noticed
this when I flew out to NRF, going through the airport where
they're lending their names to sort of experiential things such
as cafes, restaurant, restaurants, cultural
engagements, merely overselling just product, right?
(07:01):
That's by the new LVMH handbag or, or whatever luxury trainers.
This is about having those engagement moments, the sort of
strategic pivot address to consumers, deeper desire for
fulfilment and emotional connection be beyond the that
that product, which is still important.
But China's luxury boom sort of has faltered.
(07:24):
So there's prompted these strategic shifts.
And when you look at how the sector shrank over the last
three years, and I think it shrank 18% in 2023 and it's sort
of stagnated in 2024-2025, that the property market limited that
growth. They're not going to be opening
(07:45):
thousands of more stores. They're going to be opening
these massive flagship points. And on what?
The Middle East, it's so interesting to watch and it
actually makes me uncomfortable because what you see there
that's it's really catering to this the, the mega elite, the
Super wealthy. Like you can just imagine Jeff
(08:07):
Bezos and his wife, after they've done their, they've done
their Venice thing, they'll go there for their shopping trip.
It's so extravagant, it's so excessive and it actually starts
to make that Shanghai experiencelook kind of more normal now.
It's it's so interesting seeing this, this Popeye up and it
(08:29):
really makes me think like Europe still as when I think
about fashion is still, it's still there, but there's this
different echo chamber coming out of this the Middle East.
I've stayed in Dubai. I remember like that was years
ago and what the seven star, theAtlantis, this all the shops in
there. I remember going in and being
like, I need to leave. Like this was, I didn't even
(08:51):
know these brands and these price points existed.
So it's I feel like it's always been there and now they're just
putting it in the face and they're really making it their
destination for that, that that elite crew.
Yes, it's it's really something else, which I was thinking about
as I feel like, and the more themore common, the more normal
(09:12):
brands and the the commoners outthere.
There's been a lot of like, you know, the yeah, it was called
more normal or relatable. There's been a lot of these like
let's do it for the gramme. Like activations pop up and
we're moving in a bit of a they're going to drop off
because a lot of them have just been noise and it and we've
(09:33):
matured past that. And then you've got these kind
of flagship the the the shop that looks like a boat.
I reckon these more mid tier brands that have done their do
it for the gramme, the activations, the funny, the
silly things probably now have to think about what what's real
like what is that experiential retail look like for them?
And where do they actually put some stake in the ground and and
(09:56):
and make it a real presence rather than just a pop up?
Yeah, yeah. But Ruth, I think that the the
whole, the thought you've mentioned it was the gramme is
really interesting. And if you're going to the Gucci
Cafe in the airport lounge, you're it's going to the gramme,
you know, like it's, it's, it's those, it's almost like these
(10:16):
luxury brands are creating gateways towards them.
And so I can't buy the handbag, but I can, I can go part of the
way. And so experience.
I have an experience, but more importantly, have an earned
media, create earned media for that their, that their consumers
or the aspirational consumers want to see.
Right. Yeah.
You know, you know, to to be in the airport going through Dubai
(10:39):
and go to a Gucci Cafe and sharethe experience because you're
gonna because you're excited, because you're on a plane.
Yeah, that's pretty cool. And that and and Gucci may have
not got that share if they just stayed totally in retail.
When you look at the brands in terms of LVMH curing, Richmond,
Hermes, they're all recalibrating their strategies
(11:01):
for China to sort of adapt to these new market realities.
As luxury within China grows andluxury Chinese brands grow,
they're faced with these pressures, but sort of labouring
the point, experiential luxury outpaces physical goods.
So through global personal luxury good sales, as as I
(11:25):
mentioned, that dropped by 1 to 3% in 2024, experienced luxury
sector like hospitality, curatedevents that grew by 5%.
And that's driven by young consumers increasingly
preferring so at least memorableexperience.
Like you were saying, Gucci Cafe, you take your camera out,
you put it on Instagram or TikTok and it provides that
(11:47):
dopamine validation or that validation for for the consumer,
which challenges that whole physical possessions.
But both of them are still there.
And then just the sort of finishof flagship stores as cultural
icons, very similar to what we've seen in Dubai we're seeing
in China and the LVMH store sortof see this And my prediction
(12:09):
this will spread out like Formula One for cars where the
technology there sort of goes into mainstream cars.
This will happen and it will have a massive impact because
what we'll see that store closures specifically in China
aren't sort of retreats. This signals the strategic
direction of retailers going forfew powerhouses and reducing
(12:33):
their network of stores and luxury sort of leading in that
luxury houses or redirecting investments to these the smaller
stores. And in summary, you know, LBMH
involves strategic priorities, reducing the noise, enriching
meaning, and then looking at howto cultivate that cultural
resonance. And I think the future
(12:55):
definitely belongs, as you've seen in Dubai and as you've seen
in China to those retail brands that can enrich that personal,
enrich the personal experience, but it takes it just beyond
product acquisition and hence why culture becomes such a key
(13:16):
thing. I think Laura, you're you were
going to go next in your. Oh, it's not.
All right, I've just got one foryou guys today and I was reading
The Australian, Is it the Australian Bureau of Statistics?
I was laughing and they said, yeah, well, I will.
I was. I was reading the high highlight
reel. What do you sleep?
(13:37):
I was laughing at the the word surge.
So it it looks like the retail sales year on year for last
month have surged 3.3%. I don't know if I'd call it a
surge, but that's what they theysaid.
And so retail sales are reaching37.3 billion in Australia.
So read it without them mentioning specifics.
(14:00):
But it doesn't take a rocket science to figure it out.
It was saying 11% growth has came from online bargain
shoppers. So it's just a little bit
potentially skewed wrong, right.Like it gives the sentiment that
retail in Australia is doing well, but it's actually we're
we're at a bit of a crisis pointwhere rents, rates and
(14:21):
businesses are quite worried. Local businesses 11% growth
online without bargain shopper is 100%.
Coming from the team you and thethe Shen and the likes.
You know, we know that their massive focus on this market
last year, their sales were fromSheenwood 1.2 billion to
Australian consumers. So, yeah, and, and it was, it
(14:44):
led me down a little bit of a rabbit hole and the Australian
Fashion Council, the CEO has been very vocal about
potentially needing to put some guardrails around Australian
retail. At the same time, one of the
issues we have is 987, we say fashion items sold in country
(15:04):
come from offshore. So it, you know, like I think,
yeah. Yeah, and guardrails don't work,
though. Like, I know, you know, Alibaba
dropped a billion dollars in infrastructure in Korea.
The Korean retailers are up in arms lobbying the government to
put protectionist measures in place.
(15:24):
But if they're arguing about that, they've already missed the
boat. If we're worrying about
protectionist measures, they've already missed the boat.
It's already done. Yeah, the the one thing I quite
liked about what she was saying,I know that in France, I think
they've put like a bit of a a tax back on fast fashion.
The one thing that I think that's it's great, however, I
(15:45):
start to question who who pays for it because if you put a $5
tax to the consumer of the by fast fashion, but the
alternative here is not really there.
They're going to pay the extra $5 and the only person that is
as you know is affected as a consumer.
So I do like the fact that the assuring fashion council are
(16:06):
like actually going first we need to look at what's going on
in a backyard and have a bit an assessment and how we build up
some kind of manufacture. Can we go back to some level of
manufacturing control and country.
And it really just talks, I mean, Alex, complete extremes,
right? You're talking about Dubai and
the Middle East, this super luxury and then just this back
(16:27):
to the normal world, which as the retailers with physical
retail, you know, they're they're they're they're hard at
it right now. So yeah, so it's spend is up and
sentiment is in the middle of the road with the consumer and
they're spend, the sales are up and it's been driven by more
(16:50):
Chinese goods coming in and flooding the Australian market.
So we'll have to just watch how that plays out.
That's. And I haven't got good, well, I
haven't got good news then for the Australian Fashion Council
because my little, my first one today is a little bit about
something that's happened earlier this year and that is
the re entry of Chinese technology to India.
(17:12):
And we've seen in March, April this year, the launch of a
partnership between Reliance Retail.
So Reliance is probably one of the largest retail conglomerates
in India and Xian. So Xian's been banned for five
years in that partnership, right?
Operational control rests with Reliance data localization.
(17:33):
All the data is stored in India.So XI N doesn't have access to
data and addresses all the privacy issues and technology
and technology. The technology operate under
licence by Reliance. But the key thing about this
partnership, apart from the scale it can then take to the
Indian market is that all the stuff that's been sourced for
(17:56):
the first time, it has been madein India.
So you think about that because she and then go, OK, cool, we
can do fast fashion Chinese sourced, but for us in
Australia, it's going to be Chinese sauce and Indian
sourced. So all of a sudden we have two
global powerhouses coming together, right?
(18:16):
And this is really like this is,this is not just an implication
for India domestically, but for the Xi'an platform in every
market in which they operate. So from an Australian point of
view, to your point, Laura, we're going to say a lot more
product because there's going tobe a lot more supply because
we're coming from two productionmad, you know, mega houses of
(18:39):
India and China as opposed to just one.
So this is a big change, a big change.
And this happened this year. And it's like, you know, you
automatically achieve scale if you're alliance and you're in
India, but then you take Xi'an'sdistribution around the world
and their ability to source product from both India and
(18:59):
China. And this is game changing in
global fast fashion. So that's number one.
The number two thing I have today is I'm going to talk about
the first technology in retail that's going from East to West
rather than West to East. And I'm talking about live
(19:19):
commerce now. So for many of us in Western
countries, you just you really don't get the scale of this.
So to put you in perspective, coming out of just before you
know, 221 of the world's largestat that time live commerce
events was Alibaba's Singles day.
So 11th of November day in 2020,they generated their pre sales
(19:44):
campaign generated 7.5 billion US in 30 minutes, all live
commerce enabled. OK, so you go OK, cool, that's
China, but it's not us. It's massive, but but that's
still pretty massive. But then let's bring it closer
to home. So let's talk about L'Oreal now.
(20:05):
Now L'Oreal is a live commerce aficionado in the region.
So when I talk about L'Oreal, L'Oreal came out of COVID when
you know what, we're going to dosomething online.
So they launch live commerce in Malaysia.
So they. Produced and they have a
obviously a virtual beauty festival.
They extended to brands like L'Oreal, L'Oreal, brands like
(20:26):
Garnier, Maybelline, obviously in L'Oreal Paris for example,
there were eight brands they used when they launched this
campaign. So Malaysia's 3540 million
people, it's not so much bigger than Australia.
So it's a mid sized country. It's not massive.
They did more sales for L'Oreal in 24 hours through live
commerce than they would normally do for a whole month.
(20:49):
This is in recent. Times, you know, this is insane.
So we're not seeing this technology arrive here.
But the thing I would say is that Gen Z, right, are the most
global, global demographic of all time.
So I can guarantee you they all know no matter where they're
(21:09):
domiciled, what each other are doing.
So it will happen, right? It will happen in London, it
will happen in New York and it will happen in Sydney.
The second one at L'Oreal case study, which is amazing.
L'Oreal is so committed now to live commerce in Southeast Asia
that in Indonesia, in Jakarta, they have 4, so 14, not 414 live
(21:32):
live commerce studios running 24/7 beebing content around the
region around Southeast Asia. Every market in Southeast Asia
is doing double digit e-commercegrowth.
So they're running L'Oreal is running 14 continuous streams
simultaneously, everything from makeup tutorials to hair care
(21:56):
product to usage. And this is going completely
nuts now there. And so obviously Indonesia, say,
is like 300 million people in the fourth most populous country
in the world, but they're actually streaming that all out
around the region as well. So Vietnam experiencing double
digit e-commerce growth, you know, all these markets.
So this is wild, right? This is the yeah.
(22:19):
So this is going to happen in all markets around the world
because Gen Z will drive this and the next generation
generation alpha will be all over this.
Reflex do you think? Because I know that they, they
shop very different, right? And they've all had these, it's
been driven by apps and it's always been available to do.
And then we've not really had itavailable to do.
(22:39):
But then do you think it will like, I think it will have a
place, but I think we've got TikTok shop and like UK and the
UK. So I'm not with these platforms.
The content is being produced. They're agnostic of platform.
It's TikTok shop. So TikTok, Byte Dance, more than
50% of Talkopedia. Now Talkopedia is the eBay in
(23:02):
Indonesia. So we're seeing the sale of the
product live commerce as being the platform, but it's being
distributed, been sold through Talkopedia, through shopping and
through and through L'oreal's own own branded channels.
OK, So you as a consumer, you'vegot a choice.
We're not saying we're not saying it's TikTok shops is just
(23:24):
one of them, right? What we're saying is they're
producing the content and pushing it across multiple
platforms. Right.
Like, and again, this may be a dumb question to me, live
commerce is it's a theme. Are you saying it's a tech?
No, it's not a tech. It's it's a basically this
content stream that is really they're not.
They aren't really. L'oreal's not fussy if it if a
(23:46):
consumer sees it via Talkopedia,or a consumer sees it via
Shoppy, or a consumer sees it via their own owned media brand
channels. Yeah, I think the likes of like
doing it right now and let's useAustralia, the US and UK, we've
got like TikTok is like where wecan get a lot of that.
Then the websites I guess could be doing more live commerce, but
(24:08):
then we're limited in the platforms that do it, whereas
Asia has been so overly indexed and that's the way they love to
shop. I said that that's going to be
the barrier, but I totally, I totally get you.
And only brands that scale can actually do this.
Yeah, I think, I think you've got platforms, you've got plat,
(24:29):
you've got a, there's a distribution piece, an audience
media distribution piece and there's a platform piece.
It says the other two pieces. But if you, I mean in Australia
you saw Live Commerce Australia launch all the work with Oz Hair
and Beauty, right. Oz Hair and Beauty have got a
programme running non-stop now in Australia.
So they're doing it. So Guy Napper and his and his
(24:50):
crew, so they've been doing it, you know, so this is out there
in Australia. It has not, it hasn't not
happened to you. And for them, I don't know how
many they're talking about hundreds of thousands of social
media followers. They could mobilise them and
create a movement like that. So I think to your point, Laura,
it's not just it's, yeah, there's got to be platform and
(25:11):
technology capability in the market, but there's also got to
be audience around those platforms to actually make it,
if you know what I'm saying. You know, the thing about Oz
hair and beauty is that they've got a huge following socially, I
think probably on the ground, right, which allows them then to
go push back out to the gramme and then push them back to their
own channels, right? So yeah, you're right.
(25:35):
But I think those channels that we'll establish, but I think,
you know, consumers, that peopleare people, right?
So, and as we've talked about Gen Z before, they are the most
connected globally of any generation, right?
They know each other's good and Australia's a good example,
right? You know, most kids going to
university, English is their second language in their home in
(25:58):
Australia, right? Big population of Asian, Indian
all around the region, right? We are not, you know, we are not
European LED country as much as we think we are.
There is, and this generation particularly is enormous and
they are already connected and orientated this way.
And so we're just waiting, we'rewaiting for the technology
(26:20):
platforms to become available and we're waiting for the
distribution mechanism. And, and I, and I, I mean, you
don't, it's not live commerce, but you only have to look at
what Jane Lew's done with a showPO in terms of the way she's
used social media. It's a small step, you know it's
not a big step. I, I definitely think in the
more like, I think we'll, I think the aspects of it the that
(26:41):
all work really well and they haven't been adopted to where
they have. I just think we've got such a
different. I remember when live commerce
tech popped up a few years ago, a lot of the details found and I
think that it's changed it's changed since then is that the
people wanted video content but they weren't that and either
(27:01):
live by right now. However, I've seen one in my.
I work with a business called TSN which is like.
I know them well. Shopping Radio.
The TV shopping channel and whenyou look at how the consumers
behave watching TV, it's it's live shopping, right?
They're literally buying. It's showing them a countdown on
(27:22):
screen. It's been so fascinating to work
with a business like that that'saimed at an older demo
demographic. It's television, but it's got
all the aspects and the customers love it.
So with you, I think it's going to pop.
I just, I think it'll pop a lot differently and what it's done.
100% I think culturally are different.
I think, I mean, one of the things we see in Asia around the
(27:44):
region is when grocery, when grocery shopping, particularly
after COVID became a mainstream thing to do online, the rising
tide lifted all boats and you now can't compare live commerce
in China to anywhere else in theworld.
It's just another world away, right?
But the thing that's happening in live commerce is grocery in
China. And what that will do is change
(28:07):
the nature of every category forlive commerce because when
because grocery shopping is a routine, it's not a novelty,
it's not a one off. It's not yeah, it happens every
week. And so when you see that
behaviour change, you see a liftin all e-commerce.
And one of the things might I hypothesise coming out of COVID.
And you think about what Woolworths did with click and
(28:28):
collect in Australia, right? How how that whole world just
changed, right? e-commerce soared because all of
a sudden e-commerce became part of the daily routine.
And I think that that connectionwith something we do every day
meant that then no shopping experiences, which were, you
know, once a month or once everythree months became now, well,
(28:50):
like, I won't even go. I'll just, I'll, I'll, I can
just buy that now. And so, yeah, I think it's a
fascinating time. And I really, I think the way we
turn up as Australians in live commerce is going to be very
interesting. And I think it's not going to be
led by us. But I'm too orphans.
But but you're going to see someGen Z shoppers ripping this
apart, you know? Yeah, I think on on that
bombshell, I'm just conscious oftime.
(29:12):
Anything else before we close out?
Not much for me. I I I I've had this week was a
good fun is good fun topics. Luxury, rampant consumerism, in
in in fast fashion and and live commerce.
All pretty exciting stuff. That's all for me.
I probably the only thing I I find super interesting is that
just think it's making mine go well, like India and China
(29:35):
partnering. You wouldn't have thought that
like they've been like, like India I think is the second or
third biggest man of global manufacturer for apparel.
I think they're #2 so the fact that they, they're like, almost
like joining forces, it's, it'llbe interesting.
It's it's the scale is insane. The tides are shifting and
(29:58):
that's why I, I think retailers are always looking for what
what's happening to try and stayahead of all of these changes.
And with that, thank you. I'm just look forward to seeing
you guys next week. Absolutely all about next week.
I'm I'm away Alex. So I will, I'll you will have to
do without me. So it might be you might have to
do 3 and two because I'll be, I'll be skiing in New Zealand.
(30:20):
Oh, nice, nice, So. Yeah, I'll do it.
Doing it tough. Take care.
Hey, guys, bye.
Hello and welcome back to another fantastic edition of
Five Things Friday 8 pack edition with my wonderful Co
host Reef Quail and Laura Doonan.
Hi, guys. Hello, Alex.
How are you? Hello.
Good. How are you both?
Doing I've I've actually for after.
After a month of the event beingpassed, almost a month past the
event, I've finally succumbed toa cold.
(00:22):
I've got a head cold. OK, it took it took took three
or four weeks, but I'm there nowI'm I'm, I'm finally I have, you
know, that was I, I felt like a decompressed enough to have a
shave. And and Laura, how are you
doing? I'm good, I'm good.
OK, So I'm going to start this week.
So the one thing that is super interesting is this Middle East
(00:45):
focus on luxury and how luxury sales defies the global slowdown
in luxury. And so while stall, while sales
stall in places like China and the US, the Gulf region is still
going ahead. Luxury spend rose 6% year on
year in 2024, reaching 12.8 billion.
(01:05):
And as the global market contracted by 2%, forecasts for
the region have sales at 15 billion by 2027, which again, I,
I, I sure understand why there'sso much focus in, in the region,
but more in, again, when you break that down and you look at
malls and you heard me talk about malls or shopping centres
(01:29):
as dopamine villages. Well, these are malls as
cultural cornerstone and growth drivers, which sort of physical
retail still remains dominant. Great news for all across the
Gulf, with Saudi Arabia expectedto see over 80% of fashion and
luxury transactions happen in malls.
By Saudi that is going completely crazy.
(01:52):
It's a real there's a real transformation at me in the
Middle East it. Might be an appropriate time to
drop a plug for the five things Friday made the least edition
that will be coming out as well.Fantastic.
Well, there is a There's a lot of cool things happening out
there. Yeah.
So I've got a couple of people who are 1 based in Saudi, 1
based in Dubai and we're going to look at that anyway.
(02:12):
I'm not going to talk about that, but that that will be
coming. So when you look at Dubai Mall
and the picture that you're looking at is the new extension
to the Dubai Mall. It attracts and standing 111
million visitors in 2024, which sort of capturing virtually all
international tourists in the city.
(02:33):
And it's a luxury mall expansionwhich is around 408 million
dedicated to new high end retailspaces.
So there is no stock. This is just continued growth.
And I think the world's millionaires need somewhere to
go above and beyond the South ofFrance.
When you look at when we zoom into Saudi Arabia, going back to
(02:54):
what Reef was said, you see thatin Riyadh.
It's a sort of rapidly appearingas a luxury destination with
landmark developments, again, physical developments, a
solitaire, which we'll be launching this year and feature
luxury brands and experiential retail And the Avenue Malls of
Saudi, which is very similar to again what you were heard me
(03:16):
talking about the Dopamine villages, which is Westfield's
up and coming entries in the Saudis ambitious retail future.
And then all of these are sort of underpinned with VIP
experiences that are sort of enticing the elite consumers who
now expect specifically culturally, they expect privacy,
(03:37):
they expect personalization, they want prestige as a
standard, not as an option. So, you know, culturally, they
do, you know, female shoppers have to shop separately, but
these, these things have always been like an added option.
And now that's just expected as an, as an, a standard for
transformational experiences andeven digital first brands like
(04:00):
Onassis that have established VIP physical suites to match
this type of demand. And, you know, you would think,
you know, all of this focus on physical.
Does that mean tech is not happening?
But they're still leaning into tech innovation Wick in the sort
of in this new luxury paradigm, which looks at AI stylist NFT
(04:21):
based products, immersive digital experiences beyond the
knob, you know, beyond what we see as sort of these sort one
off marketing activations with 55% of the MENA region, a
population under the age of 30, luxury to this sort of find
themselves having to integrate digital, sophisticated and
(04:44):
cultural experiences. But sorry, having cultural
sensitivity to main relevance and leadership.
And so, you know, GG has transitioned from peripheral
luxury market into a trend setting market.
And I think we're just going to see that more and more over the
next three or four years, which will sort of define how luxury
brands such as LVMH approach personal immersive experiences,
(05:10):
which I think they can sort of borrow and take to the world.
So that's specifically on on on Dubai and the and the Mall of
Dubai and its expansion. But another I'll just share this
video with you, which is just mind blowing.
Thanks to this is the Shanghai eye on YouTube.
So you know, go get over to YouTube and watch their video,
(05:32):
but I'll share it here with you.And this is Louis Vuitton's
flagship store appearing in downtown Shanghai.
And this is not a rendered, you know, CGI.
This is the store. It is a luxury cruise line of
Etsy meets a height structure. And you know, they interview
(05:52):
these two local. This is a French guy who
tourists who they just sort of you know, he was pretty much
mind blown. And for those who are based in
Europe, they may have been to chance Alizee.
They may may have seen the LVMH flagship store in Paris, which
is the iconic Louis Vuitton suitcases stacked together, but
(06:14):
this is just taking it to a complete different level.
It's just incredible when you look at why they're doing that,
the sort of top five strategic insights behind what's going on
here. This is LVMH experience over
product, which is the sort of new luxury blueprint LVMH is.
And it's sort of peers in the industry are prioritising
(06:37):
creating emotional resonance between their experience over
product. And I think again, I noticed
this when I flew out to NRF, going through the airport where
they're lending their names to sort of experiential things such
as cafes, restaurant, restaurants, cultural
engagements, merely overselling just product, right?
(07:01):
That's by the new LVMH handbag or, or whatever luxury trainers.
This is about having those engagement moments, the sort of
strategic pivot address to consumers, deeper desire for
fulfilment and emotional connection be beyond the that
that product, which is still important.
But China's luxury boom sort of has faltered.
(07:24):
So there's prompted these strategic shifts.
And when you look at how the sector shrank over the last
three years, and I think it shrank 18% in 2023 and it's sort
of stagnated in 2024-2025, that the property market limited that
growth. They're not going to be opening
(07:45):
thousands of more stores. They're going to be opening
these massive flagship points. And on what?
The Middle East, it's so interesting to watch and it
actually makes me uncomfortable because what you see there
that's it's really catering to this the, the mega elite, the
Super wealthy. Like you can just imagine Jeff
(08:07):
Bezos and his wife, after they've done their, they've done
their Venice thing, they'll go there for their shopping trip.
It's so extravagant, it's so excessive and it actually starts
to make that Shanghai experiencelook kind of more normal now.
It's it's so interesting seeing this, this Popeye up and it
(08:29):
really makes me think like Europe still as when I think
about fashion is still, it's still there, but there's this
different echo chamber coming out of this the Middle East.
I've stayed in Dubai. I remember like that was years
ago and what the seven star, theAtlantis, this all the shops in
there. I remember going in and being
like, I need to leave. Like this was, I didn't even
(08:51):
know these brands and these price points existed.
So it's I feel like it's always been there and now they're just
putting it in the face and they're really making it their
destination for that, that that elite crew.
Yes, it's it's really something else, which I was thinking about
as I feel like, and the more themore common, the more normal
(09:12):
brands and the the commoners outthere.
There's been a lot of like, you know, the yeah, it was called
more normal or relatable. There's been a lot of these like
let's do it for the gramme. Like activations pop up and
we're moving in a bit of a they're going to drop off
because a lot of them have just been noise and it and we've
(09:33):
matured past that. And then you've got these kind
of flagship the the the shop that looks like a boat.
I reckon these more mid tier brands that have done their do
it for the gramme, the activations, the funny, the
silly things probably now have to think about what what's real
like what is that experiential retail look like for them?
And where do they actually put some stake in the ground and and
(09:56):
and make it a real presence rather than just a pop up?
Yeah, yeah. But Ruth, I think that the the
whole, the thought you've mentioned it was the gramme is
really interesting. And if you're going to the Gucci
Cafe in the airport lounge, you're it's going to the gramme,
you know, like it's, it's, it's those, it's almost like these
(10:16):
luxury brands are creating gateways towards them.
And so I can't buy the handbag, but I can, I can go part of the
way. And so experience.
I have an experience, but more importantly, have an earned
media, create earned media for that their, that their consumers
or the aspirational consumers want to see.
Right. Yeah.
You know, you know, to to be in the airport going through Dubai
(10:39):
and go to a Gucci Cafe and sharethe experience because you're
gonna because you're excited, because you're on a plane.
Yeah, that's pretty cool. And that and and Gucci may have
not got that share if they just stayed totally in retail.
When you look at the brands in terms of LVMH curing, Richmond,
Hermes, they're all recalibrating their strategies
(11:01):
for China to sort of adapt to these new market realities.
As luxury within China grows andluxury Chinese brands grow,
they're faced with these pressures, but sort of labouring
the point, experiential luxury outpaces physical goods.
So through global personal luxury good sales, as as I
(11:25):
mentioned, that dropped by 1 to 3% in 2024, experienced luxury
sector like hospitality, curatedevents that grew by 5%.
And that's driven by young consumers increasingly
preferring so at least memorableexperience.
Like you were saying, Gucci Cafe, you take your camera out,
you put it on Instagram or TikTok and it provides that
(11:47):
dopamine validation or that validation for for the consumer,
which challenges that whole physical possessions.
But both of them are still there.
And then just the sort of finishof flagship stores as cultural
icons, very similar to what we've seen in Dubai we're seeing
in China and the LVMH store sortof see this And my prediction
(12:09):
this will spread out like Formula One for cars where the
technology there sort of goes into mainstream cars.
This will happen and it will have a massive impact because
what we'll see that store closures specifically in China
aren't sort of retreats. This signals the strategic
direction of retailers going forfew powerhouses and reducing
(12:33):
their network of stores and luxury sort of leading in that
luxury houses or redirecting investments to these the smaller
stores. And in summary, you know, LBMH
involves strategic priorities, reducing the noise, enriching
meaning, and then looking at howto cultivate that cultural
resonance. And I think the future
(12:55):
definitely belongs, as you've seen in Dubai and as you've seen
in China to those retail brands that can enrich that personal,
enrich the personal experience, but it takes it just beyond
product acquisition and hence why culture becomes such a key
(13:16):
thing. I think Laura, you're you were
going to go next in your. Oh, it's not.
All right, I've just got one foryou guys today and I was reading
The Australian, Is it the Australian Bureau of Statistics?
I was laughing and they said, yeah, well, I will.
I was. I was reading the high highlight
reel. What do you sleep?
(13:37):
I was laughing at the the word surge.
So it it looks like the retail sales year on year for last
month have surged 3.3%. I don't know if I'd call it a
surge, but that's what they theysaid.
And so retail sales are reaching37.3 billion in Australia.
So read it without them mentioning specifics.
(14:00):
But it doesn't take a rocket science to figure it out.
It was saying 11% growth has came from online bargain
shoppers. So it's just a little bit
potentially skewed wrong, right.Like it gives the sentiment that
retail in Australia is doing well, but it's actually we're
we're at a bit of a crisis pointwhere rents, rates and
(14:21):
businesses are quite worried. Local businesses 11% growth
online without bargain shopper is 100%.
Coming from the team you and thethe Shen and the likes.
You know, we know that their massive focus on this market
last year, their sales were fromSheenwood 1.2 billion to
Australian consumers. So, yeah, and, and it was, it
(14:44):
led me down a little bit of a rabbit hole and the Australian
Fashion Council, the CEO has been very vocal about
potentially needing to put some guardrails around Australian
retail. At the same time, one of the
issues we have is 987, we say fashion items sold in country
(15:04):
come from offshore. So it, you know, like I think,
yeah. Yeah, and guardrails don't work,
though. Like, I know, you know, Alibaba
dropped a billion dollars in infrastructure in Korea.
The Korean retailers are up in arms lobbying the government to
put protectionist measures in place.
(15:24):
But if they're arguing about that, they've already missed the
boat. If we're worrying about
protectionist measures, they've already missed the boat.
It's already done. Yeah, the the one thing I quite
liked about what she was saying,I know that in France, I think
they've put like a bit of a a tax back on fast fashion.
The one thing that I think that's it's great, however, I
(15:45):
start to question who who pays for it because if you put a $5
tax to the consumer of the by fast fashion, but the
alternative here is not really there.
They're going to pay the extra $5 and the only person that is
as you know is affected as a consumer.
So I do like the fact that the assuring fashion council are
(16:06):
like actually going first we need to look at what's going on
in a backyard and have a bit an assessment and how we build up
some kind of manufacture. Can we go back to some level of
manufacturing control and country.
And it really just talks, I mean, Alex, complete extremes,
right? You're talking about Dubai and
the Middle East, this super luxury and then just this back
(16:27):
to the normal world, which as the retailers with physical
retail, you know, they're they're they're they're hard at
it right now. So yeah, so it's spend is up and
sentiment is in the middle of the road with the consumer and
they're spend, the sales are up and it's been driven by more
(16:50):
Chinese goods coming in and flooding the Australian market.
So we'll have to just watch how that plays out.
That's. And I haven't got good, well, I
haven't got good news then for the Australian Fashion Council
because my little, my first one today is a little bit about
something that's happened earlier this year and that is
the re entry of Chinese technology to India.
(17:12):
And we've seen in March, April this year, the launch of a
partnership between Reliance Retail.
So Reliance is probably one of the largest retail conglomerates
in India and Xian. So Xian's been banned for five
years in that partnership, right?
Operational control rests with Reliance data localization.
(17:33):
All the data is stored in India.So XI N doesn't have access to
data and addresses all the privacy issues and technology
and technology. The technology operate under
licence by Reliance. But the key thing about this
partnership, apart from the scale it can then take to the
Indian market is that all the stuff that's been sourced for
(17:56):
the first time, it has been madein India.
So you think about that because she and then go, OK, cool, we
can do fast fashion Chinese sourced, but for us in
Australia, it's going to be Chinese sauce and Indian
sourced. So all of a sudden we have two
global powerhouses coming together, right?
(18:16):
And this is really like this is,this is not just an implication
for India domestically, but for the Xi'an platform in every
market in which they operate. So from an Australian point of
view, to your point, Laura, we're going to say a lot more
product because there's going tobe a lot more supply because
we're coming from two productionmad, you know, mega houses of
(18:39):
India and China as opposed to just one.
So this is a big change, a big change.
And this happened this year. And it's like, you know, you
automatically achieve scale if you're alliance and you're in
India, but then you take Xi'an'sdistribution around the world
and their ability to source product from both India and
(18:59):
China. And this is game changing in
global fast fashion. So that's number one.
The number two thing I have today is I'm going to talk about
the first technology in retail that's going from East to West
rather than West to East. And I'm talking about live
(19:19):
commerce now. So for many of us in Western
countries, you just you really don't get the scale of this.
So to put you in perspective, coming out of just before you
know, 221 of the world's largestat that time live commerce
events was Alibaba's Singles day.
So 11th of November day in 2020,they generated their pre sales
(19:44):
campaign generated 7.5 billion US in 30 minutes, all live
commerce enabled. OK, so you go OK, cool, that's
China, but it's not us. It's massive, but but that's
still pretty massive. But then let's bring it closer
to home. So let's talk about L'Oreal now.
(20:05):
Now L'Oreal is a live commerce aficionado in the region.
So when I talk about L'Oreal, L'Oreal came out of COVID when
you know what, we're going to dosomething online.
So they launch live commerce in Malaysia.
So they. Produced and they have a
obviously a virtual beauty festival.
They extended to brands like L'Oreal, L'Oreal, brands like
(20:26):
Garnier, Maybelline, obviously in L'Oreal Paris for example,
there were eight brands they used when they launched this
campaign. So Malaysia's 3540 million
people, it's not so much bigger than Australia.
So it's a mid sized country. It's not massive.
They did more sales for L'Oreal in 24 hours through live
commerce than they would normally do for a whole month.
(20:49):
This is in recent. Times, you know, this is insane.
So we're not seeing this technology arrive here.
But the thing I would say is that Gen Z, right, are the most
global, global demographic of all time.
So I can guarantee you they all know no matter where they're
(21:09):
domiciled, what each other are doing.
So it will happen, right? It will happen in London, it
will happen in New York and it will happen in Sydney.
The second one at L'Oreal case study, which is amazing.
L'Oreal is so committed now to live commerce in Southeast Asia
that in Indonesia, in Jakarta, they have 4, so 14, not 414 live
(21:32):
live commerce studios running 24/7 beebing content around the
region around Southeast Asia. Every market in Southeast Asia
is doing double digit e-commercegrowth.
So they're running L'Oreal is running 14 continuous streams
simultaneously, everything from makeup tutorials to hair care
(21:56):
product to usage. And this is going completely
nuts now there. And so obviously Indonesia, say,
is like 300 million people in the fourth most populous country
in the world, but they're actually streaming that all out
around the region as well. So Vietnam experiencing double
digit e-commerce growth, you know, all these markets.
So this is wild, right? This is the yeah.
(22:19):
So this is going to happen in all markets around the world
because Gen Z will drive this and the next generation
generation alpha will be all over this.
Reflex do you think? Because I know that they, they
shop very different, right? And they've all had these, it's
been driven by apps and it's always been available to do.
And then we've not really had itavailable to do.
(22:39):
But then do you think it will like, I think it will have a
place, but I think we've got TikTok shop and like UK and the
UK. So I'm not with these platforms.
The content is being produced. They're agnostic of platform.
It's TikTok shop. So TikTok, Byte Dance, more than
50% of Talkopedia. Now Talkopedia is the eBay in
(23:02):
Indonesia. So we're seeing the sale of the
product live commerce as being the platform, but it's being
distributed, been sold through Talkopedia, through shopping and
through and through L'oreal's own own branded channels.
OK, So you as a consumer, you'vegot a choice.
We're not saying we're not saying it's TikTok shops is just
(23:24):
one of them, right? What we're saying is they're
producing the content and pushing it across multiple
platforms. Right.
Like, and again, this may be a dumb question to me, live
commerce is it's a theme. Are you saying it's a tech?
No, it's not a tech. It's it's a basically this
content stream that is really they're not.
They aren't really. L'oreal's not fussy if it if a
(23:46):
consumer sees it via Talkopedia,or a consumer sees it via
Shoppy, or a consumer sees it via their own owned media brand
channels. Yeah, I think the likes of like
doing it right now and let's useAustralia, the US and UK, we've
got like TikTok is like where wecan get a lot of that.
Then the websites I guess could be doing more live commerce, but
(24:08):
then we're limited in the platforms that do it, whereas
Asia has been so overly indexed and that's the way they love to
shop. I said that that's going to be
the barrier, but I totally, I totally get you.
And only brands that scale can actually do this.
Yeah, I think, I think you've got platforms, you've got plat,
(24:29):
you've got a, there's a distribution piece, an audience
media distribution piece and there's a platform piece.
It says the other two pieces. But if you, I mean in Australia
you saw Live Commerce Australia launch all the work with Oz Hair
and Beauty, right. Oz Hair and Beauty have got a
programme running non-stop now in Australia.
So they're doing it. So Guy Napper and his and his
(24:50):
crew, so they've been doing it, you know, so this is out there
in Australia. It has not, it hasn't not
happened to you. And for them, I don't know how
many they're talking about hundreds of thousands of social
media followers. They could mobilise them and
create a movement like that. So I think to your point, Laura,
it's not just it's, yeah, there's got to be platform and
(25:11):
technology capability in the market, but there's also got to
be audience around those platforms to actually make it,
if you know what I'm saying. You know, the thing about Oz
hair and beauty is that they've got a huge following socially, I
think probably on the ground, right, which allows them then to
go push back out to the gramme and then push them back to their
own channels, right? So yeah, you're right.
(25:35):
But I think those channels that we'll establish, but I think,
you know, consumers, that peopleare people, right?
So, and as we've talked about Gen Z before, they are the most
connected globally of any generation, right?
They know each other's good and Australia's a good example,
right? You know, most kids going to
university, English is their second language in their home in
(25:58):
Australia, right? Big population of Asian, Indian
all around the region, right? We are not, you know, we are not
European LED country as much as we think we are.
There is, and this generation particularly is enormous and
they are already connected and orientated this way.
And so we're just waiting, we'rewaiting for the technology
(26:20):
platforms to become available and we're waiting for the
distribution mechanism. And, and I, and I, I mean, you
don't, it's not live commerce, but you only have to look at
what Jane Lew's done with a showPO in terms of the way she's
used social media. It's a small step, you know it's
not a big step. I, I definitely think in the
more like, I think we'll, I think the aspects of it the that
(26:41):
all work really well and they haven't been adopted to where
they have. I just think we've got such a
different. I remember when live commerce
tech popped up a few years ago, a lot of the details found and I
think that it's changed it's changed since then is that the
people wanted video content but they weren't that and either
(27:01):
live by right now. However, I've seen one in my.
I work with a business called TSN which is like.
I know them well. Shopping Radio.
The TV shopping channel and whenyou look at how the consumers
behave watching TV, it's it's live shopping, right?
They're literally buying. It's showing them a countdown on
(27:22):
screen. It's been so fascinating to work
with a business like that that'saimed at an older demo
demographic. It's television, but it's got
all the aspects and the customers love it.
So with you, I think it's going to pop.
I just, I think it'll pop a lot differently and what it's done.
100% I think culturally are different.
I think, I mean, one of the things we see in Asia around the
(27:44):
region is when grocery, when grocery shopping, particularly
after COVID became a mainstream thing to do online, the rising
tide lifted all boats and you now can't compare live commerce
in China to anywhere else in theworld.
It's just another world away, right?
But the thing that's happening in live commerce is grocery in
China. And what that will do is change
(28:07):
the nature of every category forlive commerce because when
because grocery shopping is a routine, it's not a novelty,
it's not a one off. It's not yeah, it happens every
week. And so when you see that
behaviour change, you see a liftin all e-commerce.
And one of the things might I hypothesise coming out of COVID.
And you think about what Woolworths did with click and
(28:28):
collect in Australia, right? How how that whole world just
changed, right? e-commerce soared because all of
a sudden e-commerce became part of the daily routine.
And I think that that connectionwith something we do every day
meant that then no shopping experiences, which were, you
know, once a month or once everythree months became now, well,
(28:50):
like, I won't even go. I'll just, I'll, I'll, I can
just buy that now. And so, yeah, I think it's a
fascinating time. And I really, I think the way we
turn up as Australians in live commerce is going to be very
interesting. And I think it's not going to be
led by us. But I'm too orphans.
But but you're going to see someGen Z shoppers ripping this
apart, you know? Yeah, I think on on that
bombshell, I'm just conscious oftime.
(29:12):
Anything else before we close out?
Not much for me. I I I I've had this week was a
good fun is good fun topics. Luxury, rampant consumerism, in
in in fast fashion and and live commerce.
All pretty exciting stuff. That's all for me.
I probably the only thing I I find super interesting is that
just think it's making mine go well, like India and China
(29:35):
partnering. You wouldn't have thought that
like they've been like, like India I think is the second or
third biggest man of global manufacturer for apparel.
I think they're #2 so the fact that they, they're like, almost
like joining forces, it's, it'llbe interesting.
It's it's the scale is insane. The tides are shifting and
(29:58):
that's why I, I think retailers are always looking for what
what's happening to try and stayahead of all of these changes.
And with that, thank you. I'm just look forward to seeing
you guys next week. Absolutely all about next week.
I'm I'm away Alex. So I will, I'll you will have to
do without me. So it might be you might have to
do 3 and two because I'll be, I'll be skiing in New Zealand.
(30:20):
Oh, nice, nice, So. Yeah, I'll do it.
Doing it tough. Take care.
Hey, guys, bye.
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