The luxury fashion retailer, Yoox Net-A-Porter, has signed a deal with Symphony Investments in order to create a brand new ecommerce business for the Middle East. The deal will use the region's growth to operate fully from the area, and will set up a “local office with dedicated sales and marketing” teams, plus a “new distribution centre in Dubai”. The entity is expected to open fully at the start of 2017, whilst managing Yoox Net-A-Porter's already existing stores such as Yoox and Mr. Porter. Sympony Investments is run by Mohamed Alabbar, who was in charge of developing the opulent Dubai Mall, the largest shopping centre on Earth, and recently launched his own ecommerce company Noon. Meanwhile, the Gulf region is expected to outpace worldwide ecommerce growth over the next five years, whilst containing a large concentration of high net-worth individuals who the joint venture will be targeting.Â
