We interviewed Patrick Fallmann, the General Manager of Store Makers Middle East. Throughout the interview, he talks about his career journey and how he continues to steer Store Makers towards success.
The Store Makers in the Middle East are uniting JWP Technical Services, HDD Interiors and umdasch as three strong brands under one roof from 1 January 2022. This forms a powerhouse that is one of the largest and most renowned companies for Retail Interiors in the Middle East.
Learn more about it through our interview below.
Provide detailed information about your background and the company.
We are proud that Store Makers – Middle East have been established as one of the market leaders for retail interiors of global brands, regional operators and local concepts. Powered by the Umdasch group, Austria, we have more than 150 years of corporate history, more than 35 years of project development experience in the Middle East and more than 15 years of manufacturing in Dubai.
With an educational background in interior design and furniture engineering, I started working with the Umdasch group more than 17 years ago as a Technical Engineer in Austria. Shortly after, I was appointed as a Project Manager at the UK subsidiary to handle international accounts and prestigious global brands.
After being based 5 years in the UK, in 2011, I joined the team in Dubai for project management process restructuring and to set a roadmap for further growth. At that time, the company had already handled large-scale contracts for Dubai Duty-Free at Concourse A and Qatar Duty-Free at the new Hamad International Airport, forming a major position in the market.
When I took over the responsibility as General Manager in 2016, we designed and executed a business plan for substantial investment into organic growth; in 2019, we relocated our existing workshop to a new 70,000 sq. ft. The regional manufacturing hub at Dubai Investments Park had set up a dedicated team for Saudi Arabia.
In 2020, we faced tremendous challenges at the pandemic’s peak and the global market shutdown as investments were frozen. Even though revenue declined during that time, we’ve managed to avoid losing any customers. Still, we’ve gained market share by winning new ones as a stable and reliable partner during turbulent times.
The idea to actively consolidate the market through collaborations and partnerships was born during this period. Whilst we did not expect the organic demand to already bounce back in 2021 to the pre-covid position, we finalised a partnership with JWP Technical Services and HDD Interiors. We incorporated their operations under one roof as the “Store Makers – Middle East”. We have formed a powerhouse in retail interiors with an extensive portfolio of customers and services.
From the small window displays of bespoke luxury boutiques of well-known brands to large-scale rollouts and individual airport projects, we can successfully cover a diversified spectrum of project requirements. Since our organisation is deeply rooted in craftsmanship, we are happy to support our customers with an expert focus on manufacturing furniture, engineering fixtures and fittings, as well as design & build services for turnkey solutions with our partners.
Not only have we trusted partners for many global brands in the region and beyond, but also, we are key players in “Travel Retail” projects for many Duty-Free Operators in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Bahrain, Muscat, and Amman. Our professional execution has also executed multiple stores for brands like IWC, Breitling, Tag Heuer, Cartier, Michael Kors, Karl Lagerfeld, Tory Burch, Coach, Cole Haan,… We are also supporting a variety of local concepts with a great potential to grow beyond this region, including Trafalgar, Lustro, Kooheji, Al Zain, Leem Fashion, Moda by Nayomi, Aura Living, Marina Home and many more.
With time and effort, our plan for the future is to grow and expand in the region and to be known as the best retail interior development company in the Middle East.
What are your goals?
With excellent resources and competencies, the Store Makers – Middle East are aiming to become the region’s market leader for Premium Retail Projects. Retailers with small to large-scale projects which seek a reliable and sustainable partner can count on our company to handle all requirements in the most professional process possible.
We also aim to be the most reliable reference for innovative technologies and manufacturing skills for future regional retail environments.
Furthermore, we shall continue to work on offering one of the most attractive work environments in the region and embody a knowledge platform for its employees and partners that inspires growth.
For the fact that the umdasch group is an official signatory of the Fashion Pact, we have pledged to achieve 25% low-impact materials sourcing and reach 50% renewable energy by 2025 and 100% by 2030 in our operations. By implementing Science Based Targets, we aim to achieve a net-zero carbon impact by 2050.
What do you feel is the biggest strength of yourself/your company right now?
We are selling the best out of both worlds for many of our international clients: Central European quality and engineering standards with a local set-up and cost structure.
For more than 150 years, our organisation has proven that we are a stable partner even through the most challenging times. Our systems and processes ensure reliable and efficient performance for one-off bespoke and very complex projects as well as on international rollouts with dozens of stores that need to be delivered within the shortest timespan.
In the wake of the Covid pandemic, we have also become more resilient and agile in responding quickly to changes.
What was the path you/your company took to get to where you are today?
In the Middle East, we invested in sustainable growth. Whilst it is not always easy for shareholders to accept our market’s unpredictability, we have focused on achieving long-term goals while sometimes making sacrifices in the short run. Our strategic alliance and partnership have also given us more local decision-making power and flexibility whilst retaining the strength and network of the group that is essential for our customers.
Why did you start (or want to be the head of) this company?
I am one of very few in this region that can say they have stayed with the same company for more than 17 years of my professional career.
It was only natural to strive for a position where I could shape the future and, as a Partner, really have a stake in it.
I have manually worked at the workbench and am a trained carpenter by trade according to Austrian standards. I have even crafted dove-tail joints on solid wood carcasses myself – at least once. Therefore, I am proud that I can now represent, together with my partners, a team of around 200 dedicated Store Makers in the Middle East that make craftsmanship their passion.
What have been the biggest challenges you have had to overcome?
For me, professionally, it was managing the shockwaves of the Corona pandemic in 2020 on our entire industry. At that moment, nobody knew what the future would bring, but we still had to make decisions that would affect many others. It took a lot of persistence and loyalty from the entire team to push through that phase and become stronger.
Personally, my grandmother passed away during the same time, and a severe heart operation for my father scared my family a lot. All these challenges are part of the usual circle of life that everyone has to go through at some point; it added additional personal stress and brought our family closer together again. Ultimately, it showed me as well how lucky I am.
Give us one word that describes you the best.
Ambitious leader
What makes you excited about Mondays?
I am always excited, not only on Monday but during the entire week.
I like when I see my team smiling and happy in the office, enjoying what they are doing, not only coming to do their duty time and leave.
In the office, we spend more time than at home. So, when I see the team proactively gathering together to solve a problem or going out for lunch during the break to discuss work-related issues, that makes me feel happy not only Monday but every day.
It takes work to build loyalty to a company, and this is one of our main goals.
What do you value most about your culture and vision?
Being an ex-pat like most people in the UAE, I sometimes feel sentimental about my national culture. Austria has had a glorious history but has also been at the centre of two world wars. Since Austria is not a heavy weight on global politics anymore, we like to define ourselves through our culture and traditions, which centres on honest food, good music and fun traditions.
In the past, Austria reached its biggest heights through strategic alliances and partnerships and certainly not through war. Partnerships and the necessary honesty and transparency to build a solid foundation of trust is, therefore, the most important value to plan for a sustainable future whilst resisting the temptation of taking shortcuts for short-term gain.
Tell us about a project that forced you to be innovative and creative.
During the Corona pandemic, not only our central product development team was challenged with new ideas to counteract the crisis, but also all our departments. All teams within our company were pushed to be innovative and creative to come up with new solutions to keep going.
Aside from simple staff protection shields and hygiene stations, we have developed solutions like our UV-C Fitting Rooms in the Middle East. Our UV-C Fitting Rooms allowed fashion retailers to regain the confidence of their shoppers to return to their stores by changing in an environment that can be automatically cleaned with the products and outfits from the inside from 99.9% bacteria and viruses (incl. Covid-19) in between every use. In a matter of weeks, we’ve received the Emirates Conformity / TUV Certifications to launch it and support our customers in combatting the pandemic.
Thankfully today, this is not much needed anymore, but it did certainly bring out a new skill in the wider team. That skill to never stop innovating is now becoming more important than ever as retailers increasingly invest in connecting both online and offline worlds as seamlessly as possible. As such, we are now continuously launching new “digital retail” solutions.
What are your company’s strategies, and how do they stand unique from your competitors?
Whilst the Retail Interiors Industry is fragmented, the major players are just a handful of companies, and I know and respect our peers in the local market. However, as a company, we must differentiate ourselves through the highest reliability records and superior quality on smaller projects and large-scale rollouts or department stores.
Whilst deeply rooted in craftsmanship, we are innovative in digital, transparent, and sustainable processes. Customer Service is not just a department but also a corporate culture; we will continue to invest in that. Also, the affiliation with the umdasch group makes us “glocal” – globally connected and locally present across many countries and regions.
What are the key values which helped you to overcome the roadblocks/challenges in your career? Tell us something about your memorable incident in your leadership.
As you mentioned in your question about “leadership”, if you are a CEO or manager, you need to be the leader of the company who leads the team, helps the members to communicate and push them to be their best because if I said I would pass a crisis alone, then I wouldn’t be a leader!
When the pandemic hit the company, we didn’t have many choices, either stick together to pass this or drown. My team and I managed to pass the most challenging time; I pushed them to innovate new ideas to handle the situation better, think creatively, and strive for perfection.
And being the leader of the company to pass any problematic situation is a challenge in itself.
How do you see the company changing in two years, and how do you see yourself creating that change?
The change will likely be the only constant thing, and the skill to stay agile whilst growing structures will be tremendously important. I hope to have more time to focus on achieving a constant learning and development environment, as this is what we like to do. On the other hand, we have many big plans – so keep watching that space.
Where is your leadership going? What benefits do your clients get from your company in this competitive world?
We don’t see ourselves as a company that wants to be just in a transactional relationship with our customers as a supplier. We can only add substantial value to the process of growing a Retail Network by fostering strong long-term relationships based on mutual trust and reliability. By getting involved at the early stages, when the concepts are being developed, and when the locations are being selected, we can make the set-up process to realise new projects for Retailers quicker and more efficiently. By focusing not just on reducing CAPEX for our customers but also the OPEX, we can reduce their total cost of ownership and therefore be more successful in a sustainable way.
What are your company’s services/solutions or products per the current industry standards? Tell us something about your upcoming products or services.
Around 85% of our products and services in the Middle East are bespoke and not standardised. While it is important to manage the consistency of the expected qualities and specifications with our systems and processes on multiple projects, most stores are unique and different from each other in many ways. They require a flexible and project-specific approach to detail the right products and services. We work in a very fast-paced industry, and it is always our prime goal to make successful Stores!
Many thanks for the interview. For further details, we can be reached at Info@storemakers-me.com or via our new regional website, which will come live soon at www.storemakers-me.com.
Connect with Patrick Fallmann on LinkedIn.
Find Store Makers on LinkedIn.