Abstract The purpose of this research is to understand various factors that are responsible for influencing customers’ decision pertaining to selection of shopping malls. While studying about the preferences of shoppers, factors such as ambience, convenience, infrastructure, marketing, safety, and security are considered. When considered individually, these factors have their own attributes that are divided according to their nature. The study was carried out at four shopping centres of Dubai: Dubai Mall, Mall of Emirates, Burjuman Centre, and Dubai Marine Mall. It is understood that now-a-days customers prefer better services clubbed with entertainment. Moreover, the new generation prefers to buy experiences rather than services and/or products. Managements of these shopping centres try hard to make their customers’ experience par excellence. Several methods are adopted to lure new customers and retain the existing ones. Introduction Dubai is one of the seven emirates of United Arab Emirates (UAE) and is famous for its rich history and traditions. It has a society that, in spite of being bound by its culture and heritage, keeps pace with the global developments and requirements. The religion followed in the emirate is Islam, the eternal principles of which are evident in its fabulous heritage that gives strength and motivation to its people from all walks of life. Dubai’s society gives utmost importance to family bonding that is considered to be a significant institution. It combines the softness of the East and technological developments of the West ( The Dubai Code of Conduct , n.d., para. 2). Dubai is probably one of the most preferred destinations for tourists who are more interested in shopping and this has developed a strong link between tourism and retail sectors. The huge inflow of tourists in Dubai has contributed towards making it the central point as far as shopping is concerned (Anwar & Sohail, 2004). While tourism is supposed to be a significant determinant of development of the retail business, rising urbanisation also contributes towards such development (Bagaeen, 2007). Dubai’s retail industry seems to be at par with the emirate’s real estate business if monetary aspects are taken into consideration. When Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) was initiated in the year 1996, only a couple of shopping malls participated in it. The number of shopping malls participating in the DSF has now increased to seventy. With the increase in participating shopping malls, the spending of people also increased six times by the year 2012. Dubai’s retail industry dominance is proved by the fabulous success of DSF where millions of shoppers from around the globe visit every year (Deulgaonkar, 2014). With the increase in population and general awareness, there has been a simultaneous increase in consumer demand for better products and services. This has resulted in an increase in the number of global suppliers of such products. Such practice has increased competition in the retail market. Consumers have high expectations from such retailers and in turn, retailers have to match or even exceed such expectations (Wong & Sohal, 2003). With ever-increasing global players, there ought to be similarity in products at some