Table of Contents
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this activity cover?
It covers the retail sale of imitation and costume jewellery through specialised stores, including earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, and hair accessories made from non-precious materials.
Who are the typical customers?
Teenagers and young shoppers following trends, women building outfit sets, brides and party-goers after statement pieces, and tourists buying affordable keepsakes across the UAE.
Does this include genuine gold or gemstone jewellery?
No. This activity covers imitation and costume jewellery in non-precious materials. Retail of genuine precious jewellery made from gold, silver, or gemstones falls under a separate activity.
Can the store sell online as well as in-store?
Yes. Selling imitation jewellery through an online storefront, click-and-collect, and delivery alongside the physical store falls within the scope of this activity.
Is approval required for activity 4771.91 specifically?
No third-party approval is required for activity 4771.91. The activity is also exempt from AML compliance requirements.
How to Start an Imitation Jewellery Trading Business with Meydan Free Zone
Walk through the accessories floor of a Dubai mall on a weekend and the fashion-jewellery counters glitter under the lights. A teenager tries on three pairs of earrings at once. A bride picks statement pieces for her henna night. A tourist fills a basket with gold-look bangles that cost a few dirhams each. None of it is real gold, and none of the buyers mind. They came for the look, not the carat.
Imitation jewellery sells on the UAE's appetite for the look of luxury at a fraction of the price. The UAE imitation jewellery market is growing at about 5.2 percent a year, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi as its main shopping hubs and tourists and young shoppers driving demand, according to 6Wresearch1.
Worldwide, the costume jewellery market was worth USD 31.08 billion in 2024 and is on track to reach USD 47.61 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research2. For an imitation jewellery retailer, that is a high-turnover, low-ticket category: customers buy on impulse, refresh with the season, and rarely agonise over price.
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How Big the Look-for-Less Market Is
Imitation jewellery trading in the UAE serves shoppers who want the style of fine jewellery without the price, in a market where Dubai and Abu Dhabi pull in both residents and tourists. The headline number is the scale of the global costume-jewellery category.
Sources: 6Wresearch (2025); Grand View Research (2025).
An imitation jewellery retailer sells fashion and costume jewellery through a specialised store. Stock typically spans earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, anklets, brooches, and hair accessories made from non-precious metals, glass stones, beads, and plated finishes. The buyers are mixed: teenagers and young shoppers following trends, women building outfit-matching sets, brides and party-goers after statement pieces, and tourists picking up affordable keepsakes. It is a high-volume, impulse-led trade: individual pieces are cheap, but customers buy often and in multiples.
Walk into a fashion-jewellery shop in a Dubai mall on a weekend and watch how fast the basket fills. A group of friends tries on rings between cafe stops. A mother picks matching sets for a family wedding. A stylist clears a shelf of gold-look cuffs for a shoot. The staff restock the busiest pegs almost hourly and rotate the window with each new trend.
Stock turns on fashion cycles and social-media moments, not on precious-metal prices, and the bestsellers are whatever looked good on a feed last week. In a category built on impulse, the shops that win are the ones whose displays make a five-dirham piece look irresistible.
Whether it is a trend-led earring, a wedding-night set, or a holiday keepsake, imitation jewellery stores sell the look of luxury to everyone who walks past.
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Who is this for?
- Fashion and costume jewellery retailers: Operators of specialised stores selling imitation jewellery to UAE shoppers and tourists.
- Accessories and trend-led boutiques: Businesses curating seasonal, fast-changing fashion-jewellery ranges.
- Gifting and souvenir jewellery stores: Retailers focused on affordable gift sets and tourist keepsakes.
Meydan Free Zone offers 100% foreign ownership, zero percent corporate tax on qualifying income, full profit repatriation, and a fully digital licensing process, providing a regulated and cost-efficient base from which to operate an imitation jewellery trading business in one of the region's busiest fashion-retail and tourism markets.
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4771.91 - Imitation Jewellery Trading
Under this activity, your business is licensed to retail imitation and costume jewellery through specialised stores.
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The activity is specifically for the retail sale of imitation and costume jewellery in specialised stores. Retail sale of genuine precious jewellery made from gold, silver, or gemstones falls under a separate activity, as does the retail sale of textiles (4751). Manufacturing imitation jewellery and wholesale distribution to other businesses each fall under their own activities.
The line is precise. If your business retails finished imitation and costume jewellery to customers through a specialised store, you are in. If you sell genuine precious jewellery, sell textiles by the metre, or manufacture or wholesale the pieces rather than retail them, a different activity applies.
Third-Party Approval: No third-party approval is required for this business activity.
Anti-Money Laundering Compliance: This business activity is exempt from AML compliance requirements.
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Footnotes
1 6Wresearch. United Arab Emirates (UAE) Imitation Jewelry Market. 6Wresearch, 2025.
2 Grand View Research. Costume Jewelry Market Size & Growth Report. Grand View Research, 2025.
