Yet another investment in the retail business in Lebanon, I’m talking about Beirut City Center,this  huge investment by Majed el Futaim holdings. A mall that contains around 200 stores, which has become the latest trend in the country, where its echoes were spread around through word of mouth.

But the question that many of us are asking, Is the city capable of withstanding additional malls? After ABC Achrafieh and Dbaye, Citymall , Azadea’s  investments in Le-Mall Dbayeh and Sinelfil, not forgetting  Beirut Souks and Beirut Mall, BCC came to say “ I have it all”, from the fashion, to taste and entertainment!

Although location plays an important role in consumers’ choices, moreover having such close malls would more likely lead to market saturation, but not in this case! Why? Simply because the positioning of each mall is different.

So if we asked the question is the competition increasing? Not to the extent that some are thinking.

From a marketing perspective, each of the following malls has somehow different target markets, and their positioning differs. We can’t compare Le Mall to ABC, or Beirut Souks to Beirut Mall. I think the only competition will be in the field of entertainment (mostly cinemas), where we already started to see some malls introducing their competitive advantages (having luxury cinema seats). Regarding the competition in the retail stores, it is somehow lower, since different stores are available in different locations.

Here’s a simple example; Le Mall and ABC Dbayeh, almost  100 meters apart from each other, yet the completion is at its minimum, (not a single store available in ABC Dbayeh is available in Le Mall)

I think such investments are implemented after conducting huge market research, and even official deals with upper management.

Coming back to BCC! its positioning is somehow different from the rest of the  malls, yes it does have it all, and it  will provide a huge experience in fashion, taste and entertainment. Not forgetting their huge marketing campaigns (guess the C) and their slogan which is catchy and simple “the center is you”. Beirut City Center indeed is the new trend in the Lebanese market!