The UAE-based luxury retail giant’s growth plans for this year were stunted by the global Coronavirus pandemic.
The company was forced to close around 95 per cent of its outlets as a result of various lockdowns and curfews imposed by the government earlier this year which saw sales plummet by as much as 80 per cent according to Chief Executive Officer Luc Perramond. This naturally had a huge impact on the opening of new stores and although three new stores were opening throughout the year, seven that were planned for the UAE and Saudi markets have been postponed.
Perramond explains: “You look at everything in a much more cautious way or you postpone projects which could have been risky projects and where the return on investment is not so high. That’s easy to do. New stores that were planned were naturally postponed.”
Although this year has been exceptionally difficult for many, Damas included, Perramond remains optimistic about the future, commenting: “2021 for us is the year when all our new strategies to reinvent Damas will come into fruition. We expect to return to positive growth, to expand very aggressively, because I think in a market where everybody is cutting back, everybody is downsizing, it’s actually the right time to invest and show that you are leading the market.”
