Is Shop Bahrain a Part of our National Duty and Pride? We Think It Should be And So Should You.

Shop Bahrain is getting bigger and better every year, with tourists traveling from all over the GCC to take advantage of world-class, family-friendly events and entertainment. What’s your role in the next festival? You won’t know until you attend—and check out this awesome experience for yourself!

Thank you for this. Would you mind telling us about yourself and what you do?

My name is Nawaf Al Kooheji, and I’m Director of Shop Bahrain Festival.

What’s Shop Bahrain, for people who don’t know?

Shop Bahrain is the largest nationwide event in Bahrain. It’s a 30-day celebration of the Kingdom’s heritage, hospitality and tourism offering for the entire family. The event was held between December 24th and January 23rd. The Festival came together due to the hard work and dedication of the entire Shop Bahrain team.

Why is this good for Bahrain?

The objective of Shop Bahrain is to stimulate the national economy and to attract tourists from neighboring Gulf Countries.

Any specific countries?

We welcome guests from all across the Gulf countries due to the strategic location of Bahrain and its close proximity. We are one-hour away from most Gulf capitals either by car or plane.

You’re primarily targeting the SA countries. Why not Dubai?

Our main target is Saudi Arabia because they are our closest neighbor. Residents of the Eastern Province can be in Bahrain in less than an hour while residents of Riyadh and Jeddah need 1-2 hours to arrive to the Kingdom. Also based on studies we have conducted and trends in the retail industry in Bahrain—people from Saudi, Kuwait and Qatar come regularly to Bahrain.

Based upon your research, what do people from the Gulf countries want?

All tourists travelling across the globe ultimately want to a unique experience; whether it’s a culinary journey, fun-filled entertainment and events or unbeatable promotions. Tourists tend to opt for family-oriented destinations coupled with excellent airfare and hotel packages.

 

ALSO OUR MAIN AIM IS TO INCREASE THE OVERALL AVERAGE DAILY SPENT DURING THE FESTIVAL. IN THE FIRST EDITION, BD270,000 WAS GENERATED AND THIS YEAR, IT JUMPED TO BD350,000 —A 30% INCREASE.

Who are the public and private partners?

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, BCCI and Tamkeen. Our strategic partners are VIVA, Gulf Air, and American Express Middle East along with Bahrain Airport Company. Also, we witnessed the participation of more than 2,200 retail outlets and 18 malls. The participation reflected a wide variety of retail options for shoppers; which is excellent. It allows shoppers to browse and shop for home equipment’s, fashion, furniture, jewelry and much more.

Those 2,200 retail shops—is that a big increase over last year?

Yes, we’ve witnessed an increase of around 10% in that area.

What are you hoping to achieve for next year?

Our target is to increase participation from the retailers’ by 15%. Also our main aim is to increase the overall average daily spent during the festival. In the first edition, BD270,000 was generated and this year, it jumped to BD350,000 —a 30% increase.

What are your strategic partners doing for you?

VIVA launched special roaming packages to reach their target audiences in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Other areas of support included branding exposure and supplying Shop Bahrain with high-speed internet. American Express Middle East was the grand prize partner while Gulf Air launched a special promotion for people traveling into Bahrain; they also supplied us with branding opportunities across the Gulf Air Lounge, airport and the Gulf Air flight entertainment. At the end of the day, Shop Bahrain is an initiative for the Kingdom. People are coming together and celebrating Bahrain’s success.

Okay, what didn’t work last year?

Last year, we focused solely on creating a national event. This year, we targeted tourists; thus creating a unique event that attracts residents and tourists. .

What didn’t work this year?

The overall Festival experience was great, however lessons learnt from this year is to approach malls and retailers much earlier this year and to plan way in advance.

I’m guessing this is challenging because you’re still building that platform?

Giving them a bigger impact is what we want to focus on next year coupled with targeted events that will attract tourists to the malls and retail outlets.

Such as?

The ice rink was a success—maybe something of that magnitude within the vicinity of the malls and tourist locations, somewhere that’s easily accessible. It’s all about retail.

In terms of marketing, what worked this year?

Social media and branding definitely worked. We had a news crew in Bahrain—four Bahraini bloggers who constantly updated their followers with news about Shop Bahrain, plus ten more bloggers from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

What didn’t work in terms of marketing?

I think it would be the arches, because people thought that we were holding events in the areas where the arches were placed. I think the rest was good keeping in mind that our budget was cut in half from last year to this year.

Why? Shifts in the economy?

We actually managed to do a lot more with the budget we had. It’s all about carefully selecting and quality-assuring the process.

What did you do this year that you will not do next year? If there was a big fail moment, what was it?

I think, this year, it was the choice of SMS. Because the retail outlets weren’t all ready to give promotions, some of the SMS broadcasts were like, “Just come to our place.”

THE NEXT EDITION WILL BE BIGGER AND BETTER. BAHRAIN’S ECONOMY IS DIVERSIFYING AND LOOKING AT OTHER MEANS OF STIMULATING AND ENERGIZING THE ECONOMY—AND ONE OF SECTORS IS TOURISM.

Okay, what do you think are the biggest misconceptions when it comes to Shop Bahrain?

Maybe the numbers. People misinterpret the budget and say we’ve spent BD10 million, and we didn’t spend that much.

Is there any way your team can measure the impact of Shop Bahrain on the national economy? Like a percentile of the GDP at the end of the year?

For that month, the numbers of tourists increased by 16%. People need to come together and support not only Shop Bahrain, but any event in Bahrain, because at the end of the day, we can accomplish a lot for our country.

Can you give us a sneak peek into what might happen at the next Shop Bahrain?

The next edition will be bigger and better. Bahrain’s economy is diversifying and looking at other means of stimulating and energizing the economy—and one of sectors is tourism. We have a good foundation, and we need to build on it.

Excellent. Anything else you guys want to share?

We want to thank everyone in Bahrain for supporting the event. Everybody should be an ambassador to Bahrain. Whenever there is an event here, they should promote it and attend. Come, visit us, and participate!

Thank you for this.

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