A UAE businessman is launching a mall to tap local women's hidden spending power. Karen Thomas went to Abu Dhabi in search of retail girl power.

What do women really want? It's the question that gave poor old Sigmund Freud many a sleepless night. Now, however, an Abu Dhabi real estate firm is launching a venture that claims to tap into women's retail, leisure and business needs. What more could a girl ask?

She Zone is the latest shopping concept to hit the Gulf, a region groaning under the weight of new malls, department stores and the latest global retail concepts. Scheduled to open after Ramadan, its developers claim She Zone is more than just another mall - it's a whole new lifestyle.

Instead of the usual department store She Zone, which has just 33 outlets, centres on a cinema, a business centre and a health centre, all for an exclusively female clientele. The business centre will offer advice on legal and professional issues and will have a free advice helpline run by and for women.

Guest instructors will lead special exercise classes and lectures on health and fitness and, in addition to films selected for women and their children, the cinema will host lectures, discussions and events that encourage women to participate. The Future Leaders programme will invite children to design and manage their own store.

Women entering the mall on fashionable Khalidiya Street can remove their abaya and shaila, safe from prying eyes. Trained guards will turn away curious teenage boys and there are no security cameras inside. The stores will employ only female staff.

The project is the brainchild of Saeed Mohammed Al Hameli, genial, US-educated son of a prominent Abu Dhabi business family. He owns real estate company Mark Link, and She Zone is its debut project. She Zone is a women-only venture that aims to offer more than just another retail concept.

Women-only malls have met with chequered success in the Gulf, despite the segregation of men and women in much of the region. Mark Link's view is that once women are inside a mall, they are unlikely to leave without buying something. The trick is to attract women into the mall in the first place - and this is why She Zone offers something new and different.

Once inside, argues Al Hameli, customers will relax in a welcoming, all-female environment where high service standards and value-added entertainment persuade them to part with their dirham.

In Abu Dhabi, women and children account for some 66 per cent of all consumer purchases, according to Mark Link's research. This means a potentially lucrative market for a dedicated women-only space, combined with a Western-style, service-oriented sales approach.

Critics have argued that the UAE's small population makes it difficult for retail ventures to target sufficient numbers of customers: when France's Promodes Group launched Dubai's first ever hypermarket at the City Centre shopping mall, sceptics scoffed that the concept of such a vast store simply would not work.

In three years, City Centre has opened new stores in Abu Dhabi and on the Ajman/Sharjah border, however, proving the sceptics wrong.

Al Hameli is confident that She Zone will attract the right numbers; 48 per cent of the 2.6 million UAE nationals live in Abu Dhabi. Mark Link researchers questioned 15,000 nationals about their shopping habits and canvassed 12,000 local women about services and products.

"Some 82 per cent were very positive," Al Hameli reported. "Even in the US, the country with most equality between men and women, there are special places for women. You have women's gyms and even cigar clubs - it's all about specialisation.

"Women are more educated decision makers than 25 years ago, when my father would buy everything for the family - even my mother's clothing," he explains. "Now, women make nearly all the purchasing decisions - and when they pick and choose, they generally go for the best. In contrast, a man will go for what is most expensive."

Thus, She Zone will have two lingerie stores - one selling mass market products, the other selling expensive sets from upwards of UAE dirham (Dh) 3,000. Clothes stores range from those stocking local fashions to a top-range Moroccan boutique. Other stores will sell crystal ware from Europe, jewellery and watches. Al Hameli's wife will run the beauty store.

She Zone will invite Abu Dhabi's best restaurants to supply different foods from around the world - Japanese, Italian, Indian, Lebanese. Few national women would visit a local restaurant alone, or even with a group of girlfriends, but with She Zone's women-only dining policy trends look set to change.

Mark Link says its target shoppers are female UAE nationals aged 17-35 years; some - though not all - are married with young children.

"Not all are rich, necessarily, and not all are interested in expensive stores," Al Hameli said. "This is not the same concept as other malls with their big, branded names. That's really not for everyone; we have tried to achieve a mix. UAE women who spend Dh10,000 on a dress will also spend Dh10 buying a new shaila [veil]."

Mark Link has calculated that there are some 38,000 women falling into its target category living in Abu Dhabi city and neighbouring Al Ain. These women spend Dh10,000-12,000 a year on themselves and their children and buy at least 10 grams of gold as wedding gifts.

Based on what he calls 'worst-case' calculations, Al Hameli believes that young Abu Dhabi women have a combined spending power of at least Dh75 million. If She Zone could tap into just 15 per cent of that, the mall could generate annual sales of Dh 17-18 million. His best-case projections forecast earnings of up to Dh225 million.

Contrary to stereotype, not all Gulf nationals are fabulously rich. However, Western market research firms have found it difficult to determine female spending power. Mark Link's calculations suggest that Abu Dhabi women have considerable spending power, even if they have no independent income.

It estimates that the percentage of working Abu Dhabi women has risen from nine per cent to 13 per cent. The number of female graduates has outstripped the number of men. Women working in the public sector earn at least Dh8,000 a month.

Even women supported by their families have money to spend. Al Hameli estimates that even schoolgirls receive Dh2,000 in pocket money every month and women living with their families spend nothing on rent or bills.

Students at Abu Dhabi women's college told Mark Link researchers that they spent about Dh4,000 a month, excluding clothes and gifts for festive occasions such as weddings and Eid, expenses that their families cover. "Local women spend their money; they don't believe in saving," says Al Hameli.

If girl power is a foreign concept to Abu Dhabi, a space-age metropolis where ancient Arabian traditions still hold sway, the purchasing power of female nationals is clearly a force to be reckoned with.

The question, then, is whether Abu Dhabi women want to shop in a women-only environment. One retailer from Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province argues that shopping is a family affair, allowing women to spend quality time with their husband or male relatives. Women want to escape their segregated environment, he claims.

"Women want to shop without being bothered or without making wrong decisions," Al Hameli argues. "My sister covers her face and often finds when she gets home that she has bought something to match that is completely wrong.

"We will do whatever it takes to get the right elements and will implement new ideas and strategies to promote She Zone. The rest comes from God. We are not psychic and there are no guarantees, but we will use every trick in the book to attract our target market."