Is Your Brand Ready to Enter the Middle East?

Our Thoughts

20/07/2023 by The Red Tree

When you start preparing to expand into international territories there will always be new elements to ensure you have in place and the GCC comes with its own, unique, and often complex list.

Firstly, each country has totally different requirements for product registration, compliance, and importation. While some are more in-depth than others it’s a good idea to know all of them from the start and plan your strategy to allow for preparation of each one in stages as this alone can take from 1 month – 1 year and documentation can be quite hefty so this can often take time to put together.

Will you look to appoint a local partner to operate your brand or plan to set up a new entity to directly manage and operate the region? Both come with pros and cons.

Local partner

A partner/distributor model is very commonplace as this offers a lot of operational support along with contacts and established relationships within the market, that said it can mean losing some of the decision making, strategy and influence on core brand values which is not ideal and depending on how established your brand is, can really influence the long-term brand value.
Direct entity

A direct entity comes with set up costs, logistics, staff and time which is not feasible for everyone and it’s always worth considering of the potential of the market can make the return on this worthwhile. Of course, If it’s the right approach for your business then it offers a total control on strategy, brand awareness and market share ultimately.

A one-size-fits-all approach won’t work and there are important cultural and seasonal factors to consider.

Have you already reviewed your brand positioning and who you customer will be in each country to have established chosen routes to market and decided on your launch and roll-out strategy? Then it’s time to ensure you have relevant and regionalised marketing campaigns and assets in the making.

Budgets & Forecasts

As the Middle East beauty market becomes increasingly aggressive it’s an essential element to success to consider where you invest your marketing budgets on all things digital and influencers, as well as events and retailer activations. Even for luxury beauty, sampling and value added GWP’s etc… are a standard market practice with many offline and online retailers expecting high discount periods at key moments throughout the year..