Nobody knows how much of the Muslim world’s spending will become halal, but a report to be released next week by Thomson Reuters and DinarStandard, a New York advisery firm that focuses on emerging Muslim markets, estimates Muslim consumer spending on food and lifestyles totalled $1.62 trillion in 2012.
“The real development that is happening now, and which is the big opportunity, is that halal is now a lifestyle segment,” said Rafi-uddin Shikoh, chief executive of DinarStandard.
One of the largest tourism consumer segment in the world are Muslims whose tourism expenditure collectively is larger than the largest spending tourist source market in the world – Germany – and almost twice that of China’s. With unique needs that appeal to a wider global ‘family-friendly’ tourism market, this growing segment is one of the most exciting new areas of growth for the Industry.
Talk of Muslim consumers naturally throws up the word ‘halal’, which simply means ‘permitted’. And in common parlance, halal is used to refer to meat and food products. But Muslim shoppers are interested in more than just food. From the smallest to the most global of brands, there is an opportunity to tailor an offering for a young, brand conscious, well-connected and increasingly affluent consumer segment.
Food Industry
Globally, the Islamic finance market is estimated at $2.1 trillion. The Muslim travel market is valued at $126 billion.The Muslim fashion market is worth $96 billion. And the burgeoning personal care and cosmetics market is estimated at $13billion, although experts agree this is very low. Yet across all these sectors, products and communications aimed at the Muslim consumer are only slowly being developed. For any brands that want to gain first mover advantage and win over Muslim consumers, the time is now.
