System developed to enable Al-Futtaim retailers to adhere to guidelines and protocols issued by Dubai Economic Department

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, May 12, 2020:   Al-Futtaim today announced the launch of an innovative Web Based Crowd Management Service for its store customers to ensure they can continue to adhere to social distancing guidelines while visiting Al-Futtaim properties. The quick and convenient service was developed in response to the Dubai Government’s health and safety directives following the announcement by the Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management to reopen malls and retail stores. The technology solution helps manage the flow of customers to maximum 30% of store capacity, ensuring the safety of customers and retailers.  

The service allows customers to either book a time slot in advance or walk into the store after scanning a QR code using a virtual queuing system, ensuring there is never any overcrowding or heavy queueing in the stores. Reminder texts are sent 30 minutes before booking, with slots lasting a maximum of two hours and another reminder text being sent when a customer is approaching the end of their allocated time slot. The pilot was launched across three ACE stores in Dubai: the biggest flagship ACE store in Dubai Festival City, the Sheikh Zayed Road and the Motor City stores. Since the implementation of the system, no customer has been admitted to ACE without a check-in. Al-Futtaim is also looking at other retailers where it would make sense to implement. 

Al-Futtaim opened its two malls in Dubai, Dubai Festival City Mall and Festival Plaza just ahead of Ramadan in order to be able to better serve the community during the Holy Month. Al-Futtaim continues to ensure the implementation of all protocols and safety guidelines across its malls. 

Regis Schultz, President, Retail at Al-Futtaim commented: ‘Our focus is on ensuring we are abiding by all directives issued by the Dubai Government to keep our customers, employees and retailers safe. Upon announcement of retail stores re-opening, we quickly collaborated with our teams to develop a solution that would ensure we could fully comply with all precautionary measures. We are pleased to announce this in our ACE stores and hope this provides customers with additional peace of mind when visiting for their essential needs.’

The crowd management service is fully integrated with Apple and Android operating systems and uses push notifications and Apple Wallet notifications. Data collected for pre-bookings and QR code including the customers’ mobile numbers, will not be kept or used for marketing or commercial purposes.  No individual information is stored, ensuring complete data privacy for customers.