Retail
Helping Organisations Reimagine Retail
Retail and F&B
Shaping the Future of Retail and F&B through Data and Design
Retail
Helping Organisations Reimagine Retail
Unlocking the full potential of retail and F&B through research based insights and spatial storytelling.
The world’s largest
shopping mall attracts more visitors annually than international tourists visiting the United Kingdom.
Retail and F&B is about constant evolution, relevance and agility. While traditional retail transcends the brick and mortar formats, F&B is evolving to be the centre of community building and footfall.
From phygital retail and seasonal art to limited-time pop-ups and curated dining, traditional retail formats have evolved far beyond their original intent. We partner with retailers and F&B brands to meet these challenges head-on equipping them with the insights and strategies they need to stay ahead.
Understanding customer experience and preferences are key to the evolving nature of retail and F&B. Layering in the use of multiple channels and media outlets to build preferences and affinity reinforces the requirement of regular benchmarking to ensure retail operators are ahead of the curve and optimising their retail mix and offering.
We help businesses with advanced analytics to benchmark their current assets, brands and offerings while also building comprehensive customer experience journeys to identify pain points and future proof their investments.
How We Help
By empowering businesses with intelligence on their customers and how their behaviors reveal opportunities and gaps, combined with market trends and socio-economic value, we help retail operators anticipate needs ensuring consumer relevance and commercial success.
Consumer & Market Intelligence
Our retail and F&B studies help benchmark asset performance, evaluate current offering, and identify growth opportunities. Consumer insights and trade area analysis uncover demand patterns and reduce attrition risks.
Asset Performance Optimisation
Our optimization studies involve customer profiling, trade area understanding and current sales drivers to help businesses understand performance and future opportunities. Through benchmarking against best-in-class assets and addressing risks, we help operators fine-tune their retail and F&B portfolios to drive stronger asset-level results.
Planning & Financial Advisory
We offer strategic and financial advice through investment analysis, portfolio optimisation, and retail concept development, enhancing loyalty programs and merchandising strategies for sustainable growth and profitability.
New Asset Development
We support new retail and F&B developments through data-driven insights across site assessment, catchment analysis, and market forecasting. From feasibility studies to tenant mix planning and GLA modelling, we help define the right concept, rollout strategy, and long-term positioning for sustainable growth.
Behaviour & Journey Profiling
We analyse shopper behavior and map the entire customer journey to uncover key insights into satisfaction levels, preferences, and shopping patterns. This helps retailers enhance customer experience, optimise store layouts, and tailor marketing strategies to drive engagement and sales.
Demand Modelling
Our demand model studies help assess the retail and F&B landscape combined with consumer preferences and market trends to adequately forecast market shares while also recommending optimized tenancies.
Retail and F&B Expertise
Sectors We Work With
While most of our engagement is tailor made, across the industry we have over 25 years of experience across :
- Community, Neighborhood Retail
- Convenience Retail
- Destination Malls
- Duty-Free Retail
- F&B and Dining Sectors
- Lifestyle Retail
- Luxury Retail
- Mixed-use Developments
- Regional Malls
- Retail Entertainment Destinations
- Speciality Retail Facilities
- Strip Retail
- Supermarkets & Hypermarkets
- Super-regional Malls
- Wholesale Markets
Connect with our Retail and F&B practice.
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Case Study
Benchmarking retail assets: Laser focused insights for a leading retail developer
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The year 1995 witnessed the launch and opening of Deira City Centre (DCC) and by 2005 following the launch of Mall of the Emirates (MOE) Majid Al Futtaim had established themselves as the market leaders within the organised retail sector of the UAE. However, the business became aware that they needed to better understand the retail market, its evolution and why their shoppers kept coming back. grmc’s annual research study helped establish the framework for the entire business’ retail portfolio.
Building the retail strategy: Diriyah Gate Development Authority
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Located 15 minutes north-west of Riyadh city centre, the Diriyah Gate Development Authority (DGDA) project aims to transform 7 sq km of Diriyah city into one of the world’s lifestyle destinations for culture and heritage, hospitality, retail and education. grmc was engaged by the Diriyah Gate Development Authority to articulate the retail strategy including F&B, Leisure and Entertainment destinations including tenant recommendations and forecasted market shares.
Mapping the growth of a city: Retail strategy for a masterplan
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Majid Al Futtaim Properties, a leading developer across the Middle East, was considering the development of a retail asset within its larger mixed-use destination, ‘Ghaf Woods’. grmc Advisory was engaged to evaluate Dubai’s growth trajectory and appetite for a new retail destination, and to provide recommendations on the optimal scale of the development, supported by a comprehensive demand assessment spanning the next two decades.
Driving retail transformation: Benchmark-led strategy for a flagship retail destination
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As one of Dubai’s most established retail destinations Burjuman has constantly evolved its offerings over the years to continually support its trade areas and the transient population thanks to its metro stations. To support its business strategy, grmc has been engaged for multiple years since 2022 to deliver a comprehensive understanding of its shoppers, trade areas, and market positioning.
Benchmarking a luxury retail destination: Measuring performance and unlocking value
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Place Vendôme Qatar, one of Doha’s premier retail and lifestyle destinations, sought to evaluate its current market performance while identifying opportunities to strengthen its position as a leading retail destination. grmc Advisory was engaged to deliver a comprehensive market and consumer benchmarking study to inform future growth and strategic direction.
Optimising a giga-scale development: Integrating demand, mix, and long-term growth
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Qiddiya is one of Saudi Arabia’s flagship giga-projects, positioned as a world-class entertainment-led destination under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 agenda. Spanning 367 sq. km, the development integrates entertainment, retail, residential, hospitality, and sports assets, with the ambition of redefining the region’s leisure and tourism landscape.