The Retail Reboot Summit 2025 culminated spectacularly with the inaugural FancyTech A&M Awards 2025 at JW Marriott Marina, Dubai. This exciting and engaging day brought together the region’s retail leaders, marking a significant milestone in recognising retail tech and marketing excellence across the MENA region.
The evening began with the unveiling of the first-of-its-kind Tech & Marketing Icons Yearbook, celebrating the visionaries shaping the future of retail. Anurima Das, Executive Editor, IMAGES RetailME, joined advisory members Rajesh Garg, Chief Financial and Sustainability Officer, Landmark Group, and Tarek Mehio, GO-TO-MARKET Director, FancyTech, along with Jack Xu, Head of Overseas Business, FancyTech, for the ceremonial unveiling.
The yearbook honoured influential tech leaders including Adam Docrat from Chemist Warehouse, Arunachalam Palanniappan from Choithrams, Bappaditya Bannerjee from Brands For Less Group, Debdatta Bagchi from Ajmal Perfumes, Hassan Tamimmi from The Little Things, Marc Jeffery from The Giving Movement, Mohammad Noohu from Union Coop, Nick & Rob representing Paul Morris from Alshaya Group, Rushikesh Bhatt from EROS Group, Santosh Shetty, Sedat Firat from Flormar, Pallavi Chandra representing Sumit Roy from Jumbo Group, Vishal Kapil from Mair Group, Christos Sarantopoulos & Maria Diaz representing Himanshu Shrivastava from Al Futtaim Group, and Ahmad Yousry representing Walid Shabana from Rabbit.
Marketing excellence was recognised through leaders including Aditi Gautam from Zaecy, Albina Khamidullina from Drinkit, Ana Elisa Seixas from New Balance, Atharv Ruparel from PAN Home, Anton Nykyforov from DODO Pizza, Bhavana Gupta, Dana Chammas from Tigrus Hospitality, Daniel Jose from The Little Things, Faraz Sarwar Chisti from Concept Brands, Haris Mumtaz from Al Rais Group, Hasna Namnoum from Nandos, Insiya Shahana from Sharaf DG, Karim Chahanne from Papa Johns, Ketaki Shah from Citymax, Kevin Joshi from Artelier House Hospitality, Mahmoud Elwasfy from Aljazeera Markets, Mahmoud Shamroukh from Al Othaim Markets, Nasna Kizhekedath from Luxury Good Trading Company, Rakesh Ramakrishnan from Expressions, Ramy Khafagy from Swiss Corner, Rashmikant Dhanarajellu from Danube Home, Syed Ameer from FNP, Amro Alswayeh representing Roaa Serhan from AL SAFA Group, and Reka & Hanan representing Roy Nasrallah from GMG.
The FancyTech A&M Awards featured 12 categories recognising various aspects of retail storytelling and marketing excellence.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Store Design of the Year, Fashion went to Max, presented by Sadique Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer, RetailGPT.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Store Design of the Year, Food Service was awarded to Nando’s for incorporating African design elements and seamlessly integrating design for challenging spaces.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Store Window Display of the Year was presented to Nayomi by Tony, CEO & Founder, Palexy, for pioneering the first 3D windows in the region that blend physical and digital design, resulting in a 30% average increase in sales.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Customer Experience Initiative of the Year, Fashion & Lifestyle went to Xpressions, presented by Dareen Mukhaimer, Chief Executive Officer, E-Arabization, for using value offers and AI insights to drive sales by over 15% and improve conversions by 18%.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Customer Experience Initiative of the Year, Food Service was awarded to Costa Coffee for pioneering a first in the region: loyalty on any delivery platform via receipt scan, helping increase app engagement with over 4 million beans rewarded through delivery scans.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Customer Experience Initiative of the Year, Food & Grocery went to Al Meera for introducing Qatar’s first autonomous Smart Store for efficiency and implementing bilingual digital screens and recycling stations for inclusivity and sustainability.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Retail Campaign of the Year, Speciality Retail was awarded to The Little Things, presented by Professor Elsa Ashish Thomas, Chairperson of the Manipal Institute of Liberal Arts (MILA), MAHE Dubai & Rima Alosta, Youtuber, for gamifying retail with weekly challenges focused on sales, CX, and operations, resulting in 125% monthly sales target achievement and 95% mystery shopper score.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Retail Campaign of the Year, Food & Grocery went to Choithrams for celebrating 50 years with an infinity logo symbolising “Goodness and care,” resulting in increased sales and a 5% rise in engagement and boosted brand awareness by 20%.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Social Media Campaign of the Year was presented to Beauty Secrets by Ahmed DAABOUL, Senior Account Executive GCC, ZEBRA, for their multi-channel approach on social media, driving engagement through storytelling that drew relevance from culture and aligned with brand identity.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired PR Campaign of the Year went to Threads, presented by Dharmendra Mehta, Managing Director MEA, FYND, for shifting uniform shopping perception to a meaningful experience via “Dressing Future Leaders” narrative, achieving a 22% sales increase, 18,000 new followers, and a 40% improvement in customer sentiment.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Retail Launch Campaign of the Year, Food Service was awarded to Papa Johns, presented by ANDREA GORDON, Retail Director, Dubai Design District (D3), for their social-first rollout paired with “global pizza, local taste” campaign that improved Meta efficiency MoM (CPA -24%, CPC -14%, CTR +3%).
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Retail Launch Campaign of the Year, Fashion went to Stuborn for leveraging Instagram & TikTok, and Arab influencer PR featuring bold photoshoots and “Behind the Label” videos, increasing Instagram following organically to over 1,000 and reaching over 120,000 views.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Festive Marketing Campaign of the Year was presented to That by Swati Phadke, CFO and COO, MISHIPAY, for achieving broad reach through digital campaigns (125K+ views) and influencer gifting (10.6M reach, AED 191K PR value), driving a significant 41% YoY revenue increase.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Marketing Innovation with Emerging Tech of the Year, Food Service went to Barn’s, presented by Tarek Mehio, GO-TO-MARKET Director, FancyTech & Jack Xu, Head of Overseas Business, FancyTech, for introducing a pioneering Robot Barista in Saudi Arabia to innovate coffee experience and reduce wait times.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Marketing Innovation with Emerging Tech of the Year, Fashion was awarded to onlyethikal for using targeted, local language messaging and improving retention, contributing to a 15% increase in average order value and improving monthly customer retention from 25% to 40%.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Marketing Innovation with Emerging Tech of the Year, Consumer Durables went to Sharaf DG for achieving a 6.05% engagement rate and generating 2.9M digital reach with 36x virality, being the first to release a Mixed Reality newspaper ad in the UAE.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Influencer/Celebrity Collaboration of the Year was presented to centrepoint by Rohit Bharati, Founder & Creative Director, Tidding, for collaborating with GCC celebrity Maya Diab as part of its Ramadan campaign, amping up social media followers to 66 million from 41M.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Community Creation Campaign of the Year, Fashion & Accessories went to Al Jaber Optical, presented by Adriano Silva, Head of Growth MEA and APAC, VTEX, for campaigns directed to blue-collar workers, establishing itself as the responsible retailer in its community.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Community Creation Campaign of the Year, Food & Grocery was awarded to Mark & Save for collaborating with multicultural influencers and integrating online/offline efforts to establish a community-first approach.
IMAGES RetailME Most Admired Integrated Retail Campaign of the Year went to Zoom, presented by Rupam Bhattacharjee, MD, WaysAhead Global, for creating a home-grown coffee brand campaign rooted in local sentiments, addressing the need for a quality coffee brand born in the UAE.
The event was supported by key industry partners including Presenting Partner FancyTech, Phygital AI Partner RetailGPT, Gold Partners V Tex, RetailTech Partner Zebra, Retail Solution Partner Schneider Electric, Silver Partner FYND, Strategic AI Language Partner EArabization, ZERO QUEUE PARTNER Mishipay, and Bronze Partners Xpandretail, Palexy, and AI Partner Waysahead.
As the curtains fell on the Retail Reboot Summit 2025, the inaugural FancyTech A&M Awards ignited a new era of recognition for the innovators redefining retail across MENA. With every story, campaign, and breakthrough honoured, the night stood as a powerful reminder that the future of retail isn’t just digital or experiential, it’s personal, purposeful, and profoundly human.
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