A study revealed that nearly six out of 10 or 58 per cent of UAE customers said they are more interested in buying groceries from retailers that offer discounts and 92 per cent deliberately look for fruits and vegetables produced in the country.
This is based on the latest Oliver Wyman Customer Perception Map (CPM) survey that tracks customer perceptions and habits in the grocery sector. It says, the market in UAE “has matured and customers have developed differentiated preferences compared to their peers in other GCC markets, creating both challenges and opportunities.”
This means, retailers in the UAE “are being pushed to differentiate themselves either by offering superior value or an exceptional offer – with only rare exceptions successfully balancing both – to stay competitive.”
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Dubai resident Maryam Oribela, who has a big household, told Khaleej Times she is always on the lookout for supermarkets that offer huge discounts. “I look for promotions. Sometimes I get cooking oil 30 per cent cheaper from grocery A; then buy rice, pulses and flour at 20 per cent discounted from grocery B; and the following week, I go back to grocery A to buy other items at lesser prices.”
“It’s like playing ‘mix and match’ – you buy different grocery items from different retailers that offer discounts and you get more value for your money,” she added.
It’s not only the brick-and-mortar stores that enjoy a boost in gross sales whenever they offer items on discount. Another resident said: “Some online groceries have this ‘Reduced to Clear’ section. They have milk, bread, chicken, fish, etc. with limited shelf life that they always offer for like 40 to 50 per cent off. So the other day, we got a chicken at 50 per cent discount and that was our dinner.”
Personalisation is key
Another key finding of the survey is that personalisation – or tailoring a service or product to accommodate specific individuals – is a differentiation opportunity in the UAE market, with more than 70 per cent of survey respondents saying they would be interested in personalised offers.
Alexander Poehl, Oliver Wyman’s retail and consumer partner from Germany, noted: “The major supermarket groups most likely to prosper are those that can best innovate and differentiate themselves from their rivals”
He added: “One of the key 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 languages spoken. For retailers, this opens an important opportunity for differentiation through personalisation.”
Poehl futher explained: “Enabling consumers to access the products and promotions most relevant to them could deliver a significant market advantage. In this context, loyalty programs play a vital role. Ideally a customer sees them as a trusted companion in many daily interactions in an ecosystem spanning beyond the retailer owning the program.
“The survey found that 60 per cent of UAE respondents expressed interest in getting access to more services through their loyalty schemes, with F&B, payments and healthcare service being the most interesting options. In addition, UAE consumers are significantly more likely to share data to enable such programs, compared to European consumers,” he added.
Supporting local produce
According to the same survey, 92 per cent of customers are deliberately looking for fruit and vegetables produced in the UAE.
This is a good sign for the government’s efforts to support local produce and boost for the agricultural sector to enable local food security.
According to the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, the domestic production of vegetables currently meets more than 20 per cent of the total local demand, with cucumbers accounting for 80 per cent of the production.
There are about 38,000 farms operating in the country and the total vegetable production is around 156,000 tons annually, and fruit production is about 200,000 tons, the Ministry noted.