The luxury consumer in the Middle East: what drives purchase

For the luxury consumer in the Middle East, purchase turns on access: scarce pieces, a sales associate they know, and the right moment in the Ramadan, Eid and wedding calendar. Residents of the UAE and Saudi Arabia are the base; visitors add volume in Dubai's tourist seasons. According to Chalhoub Group's GCC Personal Luxury report, Gulf personal luxury reached USD 12.8 billion in 2024, up 6% while global luxury declined.

This guide is for founders and marketing directors of premium brands planning the UAE and Saudi Arabia. By the end you will know who buys, which drivers move them, what to do about each one, and how to plan a brand's first twelve months in the region.

Who buys in the GCC luxury market?

The UAE is the centre of the Gulf market. Chalhoub Group puts its share of GCC personal luxury at 56% in 2024, ranks it first in every luxury category and calls Dubai the luxury capital of the region. Saudi Arabia is second with 18%, ahead of Kuwait at 13% and Qatar at 10%.

USD 12.8 billion

GCC personal luxury market in 2024, up 6%

56%

The UAE's share of GCC personal luxury

18%

Saudi Arabia's share, the second-largest market

45%

Share of the GCC population under 30

Source: GCC Personal Luxury 2024, Chalhoub Group

The resident base has grown because wealth kept arriving. Chalhoub's report cites over 6,700 high-net-worth individuals who moved to the UAE in 2024, and Henley & Partners expected a net inflow of 9,800 millionaires in 2025, the most of any country. Henley's 2026 report calls the UAE the leading destination for millionaire migration over the past two years.

These clients are young and they find new pieces on social media. Chalhoub notes that 45% of the GCC population is under 30, and in its consumer survey over 87% turned to social media for fashion and beauty inspiration.

They arrive informed. Over 60% of Gulf consumers in Chalhoub's survey said they know exactly what they want to buy in fashion, watches and jewellery over the next three months, and quality was the top reason for choosing watches and jewellery, cited by 65%. The open question is where they buy it.

They also shop abroad. In the same survey, 79% of Gulf consumers had travelled in the previous three months and 63% of those had shopped while away. Gulf locals spent 2.5 times more on luxury fashion in Europe than in 2019, driven by UAE and Saudi locals, and Global Blue data cited by Glossy puts the average tax-free purchase by GCC travellers in Europe often above €4,600. Your Dubai boutique is measured against your Paris one.

Chalhoub expects the GCC market to reach USD 15 billion by 2027, growing 6% a year on local spending, tourist arrivals and wealthy expatriates, with at least eight new luxury malls in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. That forecast was made in May 2025, before the sales dip of spring 2026.

Do tourists or residents matter more to the UAE luxury market?

Both matter, but they carry the market in different years. In late 2025, Bain & Company and Altagamma expected Middle East luxury spending to grow 4–6% that year, the strongest of any region, on tourism in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and steady domestic demand in Saudi Arabia. Globally, they found demand from ultra-wealthy clients stable while aspirational shoppers pulled back.

Visitors matter most in Dubai. Chalhoub reports that luxury spending among tourists in the GCC rose 5% in 2024. Among tourists in the UAE, Russians were the top spenders and Saudis came second, seen as high spenders because of a better shopping experience, wider assortment and more competitive pricing.

The first half of 2026 showed which group holds. In March 2026, Reuters reported sales drops of 30–50% for luxury brands at Mall of the Emirates, while traffic at Dubai Mall, more popular with tourists, fell about 50%. In Abu Dhabi, which relies less on tourist spending, March sales at the Galleria mall were down about 10%.

Brands with a local client base had somewhere to turn. AFP reported that several brands moved staff to online outreach, and a salesperson at a Dubai Mall boutique told AFP the store had a strong local clientele. Glossy reported that Moncler's local teams shifted to one-to-one outreach to hold demand. Bain's spring 2026 update estimated that the GCC luxury consumer base fell 15–25% in the first quarter, and its most likely scenario has local consumption offsetting uneven tourist flows.

Visitors are coming back. Dubai welcomed 869,000 international overnight visitors in August 2026 and hotel occupancy reached 66%, up from 36% in March, The National reported. Visitors from the Gulf made up 16% of the 6.97 million arrivals in the first eight months of the year.

What this means for brands: build the plan on residents and treat visitor spend as upside, because the client book is what keeps a boutique trading in a bad quarter.

How is the Saudi luxury market different?

Saudi Arabia is a home market first. Arab News reporting, summarised by Communicate Online in August 2026, describes a luxury market driven largely by local consumers, with demand extending beyond weddings and other major occasions into eveningwear and more considered daywear. The Lebanese couture house Georges Hobeika reports more fittings in Riyadh and Jeddah, with demand linked to local red carpets, galas and other events.

The base is young and Saudi. Saudi nationals were 58.4% of the 32.2 million population in the 2022 census, and 63% of them were under 30. Chalhoub found that 40% of Saudi customers had changed their clothing style in the previous five years, so tastes are still forming and a new brand can still earn a place in them.

Retail is catching up with demand. Chalhoub records 24% growth in gross leasable retail area in Saudi Arabia in 2024 and calls the country's luxury potential untapped, and Missoni, Eleventy, Corneliani and ISAIA have recently made their first Saudi openings.

Saudis also spend heavily in the UAE, so a Saudi client may meet your brand in Dubai first and expect to be recognised in Riyadh. That makes one client record across both countries worth more than two separate campaigns.

What drives a luxury purchase in the Gulf?

Seven drivers come up in the market data and in the luxury and lifestyle launches Encore has worked on. Media spend is not one of them: it carries the message, but these are what make a client buy.

In the Gulf, a luxury brand sells through the clients it knows by name, not through how many people see it.

Scarcity and limited drops

Scarcity gives a client a reason to buy now rather than on the next trip to Europe. When MONOCHROME released its first limited-edition drop with Reebok, Encore built the launch around it: cryptic teasers, countdowns, influencer seeding, early-access previews and first-access announcements for the community. The drop sold out in 24 hours, and sales beat expectations without heavy paid promotion.

Luxury clienteling

Luxury here is sold by people. Globally, BCG and Altagamma found in 2025 that top-tier clients are 0.1% of luxury customers but over 37% of spending, yet 70% of potential top-tier clients are not identified because brands' CRM and segmentation lack the sophistication. Eight in ten expect exclusive, private spaces inside the boutique.

In the Middle East, much of that relationship can run through messaging. Chalhoub notes that internet users in the region spend 31% more time on social messaging each day than the global average. Give associates an approved WhatsApp Business account, a client record shared with head office, and a reason to write: a first look, a fitting, an invitation.

The gifting calendar

Ramadan and Eid set the rhythm of Gulf luxury sales. Chalhoub reports that luxury fashion in the GCC grew 11% in the first quarter of 2025 and prestige beauty 23%, both helped by the timing of Ramadan. Ramadan 2027 is expected to begin around 8 February, according to the UAE's Astronomy Centre, with Eid al-Fitr expected on 9 or 10 March.

Products, Arabic content and retail approvals for that window need agreeing by the end of 2026, so the edition is in boutiques before the month starts. Weddings are the other anchor, though Saudi demand now runs beyond them.

Ramadan collections without cliché

Ramadan capsules can slide into cliché. When houses from Louis Vuitton to Versace rolled out Ramadan pieces in 2023, Sofiane Si Merabet, founder of the Dubai cultural marketing group Karta, told AFP that some brands rush in with the moon, camels and the woman in the desert, and that they should rely on local communities and artists rather than import everything from Paris. The editions that work start from the brand's own codes and meet a local moment, not the other way round.

Encore's work for Niobim, a Dubai jewellery brand for high-income clients, found its audience responded most to story-driven visuals, limited collections and cultural moments such as Ramadan campaigns. The Niobim content plan included seasonal drops, limited collections and Ramadan editions among its pillars, and after the visual and targeting overhaul reach grew 560%, with a 3.6% click-through rate against a regional benchmark of about 2.4%.

Arabic first

For Saudi and Emirati clients, Arabic is the language of the relationship, not a translation layer. Write the Ramadan story, the gift message and the associate's first note in Arabic, then adapt into English, and check every cultural reference with someone from the market before it goes out.

Why do collaborations and events sell luxury here?

Collaborations give a client something new from names they already trust, and put two audiences on one launch. For the MONOCHROME and Smashbox cross-category drop, Encore led the negotiations and aligned the brands on creative direction, product selection, marketing rights and usage, deliverables and timelines. Most of the risk in a collaboration sits in those terms, not in the creative.

Licensed collections work the same way. TUD TOY, a collectible art brand, opened its first physical gallery in Dubai around a limited-edition, officially licensed art collection inspired by Michael Jackson's legacy. Encore ran the TUD TOY gallery launch, with luxury influencers, media and VIP collectors on the guest list and a live art performance by the Arab artist Diaa Allam. Rights, approvals and usage terms for licensing a collection for the region need settling before the first teaser goes out.

Spending is moving towards experiences. Bain's late-2025 study found hospitality and fine dining growing faster than luxury goods, and the spring 2026 Altagamma-Bain update says experiences lead growth as consumers put meaning before ownership. In the region, brands answer with events: Chalhoub's review of 2024 lists Dior's Designer of Dreams exhibition in Riyadh and Charlotte Tilbury's suhoor at Bait Sharbatly in Jeddah.

An event sells when the guest list is built from the client book, with press and creators invited for reach rather than as the audience. Seat the people who already buy and give them first access to something.

What this means for brands: plan one collaboration and one invitation-only event in the first year before scaling paid media.

Is luxury shopping in the Gulf moving online?

Slowly. Online was 13% of GCC high-end fashion and prestige beauty sales in 2024 against a global average of 20%, though it grew 13% while the channel declined globally, according to Chalhoub. In both fashion and beauty, 66% of shoppers still prefer to buy in store and use online for inspiration and information.

So the boutique closes the sale and digital does the work before it: Instagram, creators and the associate's messages build the intent. Measure it that way. Track appointments booked, profile visits and repeat purchases alongside online sales, or the channel doing most of the work will look as if it does nothing. For Niobim, Encore set paid campaigns to optimise for profile visits and high-intent engagement rather than volume, filtering for a luxury audience.

How should a luxury brand launch in Dubai and Riyadh?

Build the launch on the client book, not on reach. The table brings the drivers together as a checklist for the first twelve months.

A first year in the region works best in this order.

1. 1Build the client book

   Months one to three. Find the clients you already have, starting with Gulf buyers from your European stores. Set up clienteling in the boutique, messaging accounts for associates and one client record shared across the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

2. 2Plan the first Ramadan

   Months three to six. Agree the first Ramadan or Eid edition in the brand's own codes, write it in Arabic first, and lock products and approvals by the end of the year before. With Ramadan 2027 expected around 8 February, a brand starting now is already on that deadline.

3. 3Add one partner

   Months six to nine. Choose one collaboration or licensed range that brings a new audience with it, and settle rights, usage and timelines before any teaser.

4. 4Invite, then drop

   Months nine to twelve. Host an invitation-only event for the client book, then release a limited piece with first access for those clients.

For the launch mechanics of the first quarter, from positioning to the first event, see our 90-day UAE launch playbook. Encore helps premium brands with the parts of this plan that depend on other people: finding and negotiating the right brand partnership or collaboration, the launch event, and the press and creators around it.