Business & Money | Monday 10 April, 2017 5:09 am |

Centrepoint, Middle East’s largest fashion retailer, heralds the future of its retail stores with its re-designed concept format at Doha Festival City. The new store, launched on April 5 2017, is one of the cornerstones of the shopping mall with a retail space of 58,092 sq. ft. split on 2 levels making it the fourth-largest retail offering in the mall.

The flagship store houses a Café, Kids’ Entertainment area, and customer-centric shopping environment, where the future-focused retailer has striven to enhance the digital experience at its store for the visually-driven millennials and younger families that it is increasingly catering to. Interactive tablets placed throughout the store prompt customers on star products and on-going deals in-store. There is also free wifi in the store for customers.

Service is a key element of the new store, with attention paid to the inclusion of greeters at the store front and an increase in Arab speaking assistants, and digital navigation consoles to guide customers to various sections of the store. Interactive iPads are placed at the fitting rooms allowing customers to easily identify the right size and fit for them. There are also mobile POS available in the store for customers to shop instantly without waiting in the que.

“Centrepoint has a responsibility towards its shoppers in the region to bring them the best-in-class retail experience. With our new store design, we are working towards a format for future success and this pilot store is part of a dynamic process towards increasing customer satisfaction and driving sales and we will implement the learning as we continue to develop a more engaging and rewarding customer experience,” said Simon Cooper, Head of Centrepoint. He added that: “As long-standing regional retailers, it is our aim to continue to improve our overall retail experience to leap frog to where traditional retail formats are headed in the next five to ten years; creating the store that our customers desire.”

The new store format has been developed by FITCH, one of the world's leading retail and brand consultancy firms. “We were excited by Centrepoint’s brief and are thrilled to see the new format come to life. The Centrepoint team had a clear mandate to transform the consumer experience within their stores and accelerate business success. Their forward-thinking attitude and evolution as a digitally focused brand was strategically aligned to our vision for our clients and we are proud to have been chosen to work on Centrepoint’s new store,” says David Blair, CEO, EMEIA at FITCH.

Doha Festival City is strategically located in the Umm Salal Mohammed area of Doha, which is home to a majority of Qataris but the development plans for the area also predict a rise in the expat population within the area.

The new Centrepoint store has opened at Doha Festival City, on the Ground and First level, near the South West parking, and showcases a full-range of the brand’s Spring Summer 2017 collection.