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Millennials dominate the luxury market in the Middle East

Seher Demirci
Turkey

By Seher Demirci, the Managing Partner at Benson & Partners

Since the end of 2018, value sales within the luxury consumer goods industry has been significantly increasing in the Middle East Market.

Considering the overall Golf Countries, and its neighbourhoods such as Turkey, and Israel; Middle East geography has one of the largest young populations in the world and millennials are richer than the average and their willingness to buy is getting stronger day by day.

Driven by rising income levels, the countries’ luxury market has been exhibiting a continuous growth. Recognized as an expatriate community (majority population from mostly Europe, India, and Americas); the region remains one of the world’s top luxury destinations for Middle Eastern consumers, as well as for Chinese and European visitors.

Based on the category, the market has been segmented into Travel and Hotels, Cars, Personal Luxury Goods and Clubs & Communities. Currently, travel and hotels dominate this market; followed by cars, personal luxury goods, food and drink. On the basis of gender, the market has been segmented into males and females. Males currently account for the largest share in this market.

E-commerce has also become a divisive factor in a region built on traditional in-mall luxury shopping. Its rapid growth has partnered with the fact that millennials in the Middle East are richer than the global average, and have more willingness to spend online. According to a report released by Mashreq Bank’s senior president and head of payments, Pankaj Kundra, there was a marked 48 per cent rise in online retail spending (compared to just 6 per cent consumer card spending) last year.

According to Kundra’s report, “While brick-and-mortar merchants have already expanded their product offering into the e-commerce space, this expansion may be at the cost of the cannibalisation of their traditional business, through the equivalent growth in their e-commerce channel.”

About the author

Seher Demirci

Turkey

Seher has more than 25 years of business experience covering the fields of industrial engineering and human resources at the leading and global companies with executive management and leadership roles.

She played a key role in reshaping from scratch and managing the change at the companies from different sectors such as; automotive, pharma and retail.

She has considerable experience at Organizational Transformation and Development and Strategic HR streamlines. Since 2012, she has been focusing on HR Consultancy mainly Search and Selection streamline specializing at the executive level.

She holds BSc and MSc degree in industrial engineering from one of the reputable universities in Turkey. Seher is the Managing Partner of Benson & Partners.

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