The Dubai Mall champions shopping experience, City Centre Deira is most frequently visited

A new YouGov study indicates that The Dubai Mall offers the best shopping experience, while City Centre Deira is the most frequently visited mall in the emirate.

The research was conducted among more than 500 people living in Dubai. Respondents were asked to rate their mall experiences across different categories including shopping, entertainment for children and adults, family-friendliness, restaurants, layout and design, promotions, parking and supermarkets.

The study revealed that Dubai residents visit malls eight times a month on average, with males visiting slightly more than females (eight visits versus seven visits on average respectively). Overall malls in Dubai were rated most highly (either excellent or good) for shopping (89%), followed by design and layout (85%), restaurants (83%) and family-friendliness (79%). Residents were marginally less positive in their rating for entertainment for children (75%), promotions (70%), entertainment for adults and parking (both 61%).

“With residents visiting malls in Dubai eight times a month on average, one more visit per month than in 2015, there’s no question malls are featuring ever more heavily in people’s leisure activities,” says Scott Booth, YouGov’s head of travel, tourism and leisure research.

The Dubai Mall received the best ratings with over 20% of respondents claiming their experience was the best in the mall across seven of the nine categories based on their visits over the last 12 months. Residents were most impressed with its entertainment for children with 36% rating it the best. The layout and design was the second most popular category (32%), followed very closely by its restaurants and entertainment for adults (both 31%). A quarter of respondents rated The Dubai Mall for its shopping experience (25%), while just under a quarter rated it the best for its family-friendliness (24%) and parking (23%).

The Dubai Mall shopper experience was least popular for its promotions (18%) and supermarket (7%). Incidentally City Centre Deira fared the best in both these categories with 24% and 32% of respondents, respectively, claiming it was the best in these categories. City Centre Deira is also the most regularly visited mall in Dubai according to respondents, with almost a quarter visiting frequently (24%), particularly Asians (31%). Following closely is The Dubai Mall visited regularly by 18% of respondents, mostly Arab expatriates (23%) and Mall of the Emirates (13%) visited particularly by Westerners (21%).

Overall, Dubai residents also claimed they were most aware of The Dubai Mall (87%), followed very closely by Mall of the Emirates (86%) and City Centre Deira (82%). The vast majority also claimed they were the most likely to recommend The Dubai Mall to friends and family (29%), followed by City Centre Deira (18%) and Mall of the Emirates (15%).

The Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates and City Centre Deira were the top three most popular malls in Dubai across all categories except for their parking and supermarket. In the parking category, City Centre Mirdif ranked second along with Mall of the Emirates – rated the best by 14% of respondents, behind The Dubai Mall (23%). City Centre Mirdif was also popular in the supermarket category with 15% of the sample rating it highly, placing it in third position behind City Centre Deira (32%) and Mall of the Emirates (18%).

Out of the latest new malls in the emirate, the best newcomer according to 28% of the sample is The Beach at JBR, followed by City Centre Shindagha – a favourite amongst 15% of respondents. City Walk came third with 11% of respondents choosing it as their most popular new mall in Dubai.

“Already well-known for its world-class malls landscape, Dubai continues to bring new, innovative offerings to market. Additions like The Beach, City Walk and the recently opened renovations to Mall of the Emirates continue to drive high-frequency of visitation amongst both the local and tourist populations,” Booth adds.