According to a study, nearly six out of ten customers in the United Arab Emirates, or 58%, say they are more interested in purchasing groceries from retailers that offer discounts, and 92% specifically seek out fruits and vegetables that are grown in the country.
This is based on the most recent Oliver Wyman Customer Perception Map (CPM) survey, which looks at how grocery customers think and what they do. According to it, the market in UAE “has developed and clients have created separated inclinations contrasted with their companions in other GCC markets, setting out the two difficulties and open doors.”
This indicates that in order to remain competitive, UAE retailers “are being pushed to differentiate themselves either by offering superior value or an exceptional offer – with only rare exceptions successfully balancing both” Maryam Oribela, who lives in Dubai and has a large family, told Khaleej Times that she always looks for big discounts at supermarkets.
“I search for advancements. Occasionally, grocery A offers cooking oil at a 30% discount, while grocery B offers rice, pulses, and flour at a 20% discount. The following week, I return to grocery A to purchase additional items at lower prices. She continued, “It’s like playing “mix and match” in that you buy various grocery items from various retailers that offer discounts and get more value for your money.”
When products are offered at a discount, not just physical stores benefit from an increase in sales. Another occupant said: “A few internet based regular food items have this ‘Decreased to Clear’ segment. They always offer milk, bread, chicken, fish, and other items with short shelf lives at discounts of 40 to 50 percent.
Therefore, for dinner the other day, we purchased a chicken at a 50% discount. Personalisation is critical More than 70% of respondents to the survey stated that they would be interested in personalized offers, making personalization—or tailoring a service or product to specific individuals—a differentiation opportunity in the UAE market.
This is another important finding from the survey. “The major supermarket groups most likely to prosper are those that can best innovate and differentiate themselves from their rivals,” noted Alexander Poehl, Oliver Wyman’s retail and consumer partner from Germany. He continued, “One of the most important findings of the survey is that, compared to Western markets, consumers in the UAE are much more diverse in terms of cultural background, purchasing power, and spoken languages.”
This presents retailers with a significant opportunity for personalization-based differentiation. Poehl futher made sense of: “Empowering shoppers to get to the items and advancements generally pertinent to them could convey a huge market advantage. In this specific circumstance, dependability programs assume an imperative part.
In an ideal world, a customer views them as a reliable companion in many of their day-to-day interactions in an ecosystem that extends beyond the retailer that owns the program. “The survey revealed that 60% of UAE respondents were interested in expanding their loyalty programs to include access to additional services, with food and beverage, payment, and healthcare services being the most intriguing options.
Additionally, UAE consumers are significantly more likely than European consumers to share data to enable such programs, he added. promoting local food 92% of customers, according to the same survey, are actively looking for UAE-grown fruits and vegetables. This is a positive indication of the government’s efforts to promote agricultural growth and support local produce in order to ensure local food security.
The Ministry of Climate Change and the Environment claims that the domestic production of cucumbers accounts for 80% of the production and currently meets more than 20% of the total local demand for vegetables. According to the Ministry, the country has approximately 38,000 farms and produces approximately 200,000 tons of fruit and approximately 156,000 tons of vegetables annually.
