ORGANISERS

Al Tayer Insignia

As a leader in luxury retail in the Middle East, Al Tayer Group's retail division, Al Tayer Insignia, hosts a portfolio of some of the world’s best luxury brands in the fashion, jewellery, home and department store categories. Since opening the first Aati store in 1981, Al Tayer Insignia has firmly anchored its position as a regional leader in retail, demonstrating strong growth driven by its ability to harness brand potential, coupled with its innate understanding of the consumer. Headquartered in the UAE, the retail division has expanded operations to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, and currently operates nearly 200 stores across the region. Al Tayer Insignia is managing in Dubai the two department store banners Bloomingdale's and Harvey Nichols. Al Tayer Insignia

Intercontinental Group of Department Stores (IGDS)

IGDS is the largest association for department stores worldwide. IGDS was founded in 1946 with the purpose of supporting and informing department stores from around the world. Today, IGDS comprises one of the most unique and vibrant retail networks in the industry with 45 members from 37 countries. Together, IGDS members generated total sales of over US$100bn in 2022. IGDS is the organiser of IGDS World Department Store Summit (IGDS WDSS) which since 2023 has merged the two banners Global Department Store Summit (GDSS) and World Department Store Forum (WDSF), successfully held in London (2008), Moscow (2009), New York (2010), Shanghai (2011), Paris (2012), Istanbul (2013), Singapore (2014), Rome (2015), Zurich (2016), Toronto (2017), London (2018), Tokyo (2019) and Seattle (2022). www.igds.org