Etisalat opens 125th Smart Store at Riverland Dubai

Etisalat opened its 125^th digitised store at Riverland Dubai, located in the heart of the region’s largest multi-themed leisure and entertainment destination Dubai Parks and Resorts, to provide customers with a more efficient and enhanced retail experience. This new concept focuses on transforming a bricks-and-mortar retail environment to a fully digital and seamless experience for customers.

Dubai Parks and Resorts and Etisalat, the park’s official telecom partner, had collaborated last year to create the region’s first-of-its-kind integrated ‘smart’ theme park destination in the UAE. As part of the collaboration, Etisalat is the ICT and digital solutions provider for Dubai Parks and Resorts.

Etisalat also has a model of its signature building in MINILAND at LEGOLAND Dubai, one of the major theme parks at Dubai Parks and Resorts, with 70,596 LEGO bricks being used to build this structure. The model of the Etisalat building was designed and built in 1,025 hours and stands at 3.84 metres.

Etisalat rolled out its ‘Smart Stores’ concept in 2014 to digitally and ergonomically transform existing stores as well as those opening in new locations across the UAE. Since launch, this new quality improvement approach has continuously focused on offering customers a more personalised experience and improved quality of service across its network of stores.

“In this rapidly changing world, it is essential to continually assess our business model to ensure we remain ahead of the game. To develop innovative new retail business models and generate incremental revenues from the mobile ecosystem, we have devised a clear strategy for digital transformation. Today’s opening of our 125^th smart store and our entire smart store network has set a benchmark incorporating the digital strategy across our retail channels in the country. We will continue to secure every opportunity to bring in this transformation by adapting the latest retail technologies, tools, expertise and resources to build our future success,” says Khaled ElKhouly, chief consumer officer, Etisalat.

Etisalat’s new smart stores house a wide range of mobile devices for customers to check and experience before making their purchase decision. A fleet of technical experts across the smart stores are present on-site to assist in technical customer queries.

Etisalat Smart Stores has introduced unique concepts at the store to provide an exclusive experience before a consumer enters a store. The ‘Digital Queue Management (Qmatic) System’ connects via Etisalat App from the mobile device integrating both the virtual and physical ecosystem helping to engage and connect with the customer. The efficient use of technology has enabled the store to go completely ‘Paperless’ utilising interactive and smart tools empowering the customer with an improved retail experience.

The new Smart Store will have specific experience zones dedicated to eLife and device tablets for entertainment and improving user engagement with the products and services. Visitors at the store have access to free Wi-Fi and enjoy the paperless environment at the smart store.