Saudi Arabia

Despite greater time spent at home at the height of the pandemic, demand for air care notably declined in 2020, as many local consumers, faced with mounting financial pressures, reduced their spending on perceived non-essential home care. In…

Air conditioners in Saudi Arabia have historically benefitted the most in the central region of the country, which is home to some of the biggest and most populous cities, including the capital, Riyadh. The hot weather in the country is also…

With travel seeing a full return to pre-pandemic levels, airlines have been keen to take full advantage of the situation. This has included continuously adding new fre uencies and introducing new destinations and routes to their networks. This…

With alcoholic drinks prohibited under Islamic law, on- and off-trade sales in Saudi Arabian remained dependent on non alcoholic beer at the end of the review period. While off-trade sales of non alcoholic beer started to rebound in 2021 and 2022,…

Since alcohol consumption is prohibited in Saudi Arabia under Sharia law, the alcoholic drinks packaging industry is entirely represented by non-alcoholic beverages, and non-alcoholic beer in particular. These malt-based beverages come in a variety…

In 2023, there have been stock shortages for some analgesics in key distribution channels in Saudi Arabia, resulting from producers, suppliers, and/or distributors. As a result, end consumers have been switching to alternative products containing the…

Apparel accessories remains in both value and volume slumps in 2023, albeit improving upon the sharper drops seen in 2022. We can attribute this to a normalisation effect following the atypical patterns seen during the era of the pandemic. Notably,…

Apparel and footwear is seeing both value and volume growth in Saudi Arabia in 2023, thanks to a variety of initiatives under the Saudi Vision 2030 programme. Within this, there are specific government initiatives supporting the apparel and footwear…

Apparel and footwear is thriving in Saudi Arabia with strong demand stemming from changing fashion trends, consumer preferences, the return of religious pilgrims and tourists, the demand for quality products and government regulations. Moreover, the…

Appliances and electronics specialists in Saudi Arabia experienced steady growth in current value terms in 2023. Factors that contributed to this positive growth included increasing purchasing power, population growth and urbanisation. Furthermore,…

Away-from-home (AFH) tissue and hygiene in Saudi Arabia maintained strong volume and current value growth in 2023. At the end of the review period, AFH tissue continued to rebound from a decline in 2020, caused COVID-19-related measures and…

There has been an increased focus on personal health and hygiene since the pandemic in Saudi Arabia which continued to support demand for a wide range of baby and child-specific products in 2023. Parents are now focusing more on preventive care and…

Baby formula saw volume sales fall in 2022 and the category has continued to struggle in 2023, mainly due to the ongoing change in Saudi culture. Years ago, Saudis used to have many children, with an average family having around five or six children.…

Since the pandemic, retail unit volumes of baby food packaging have consistently declined. During the pandemic, mothers – particularly working mothers – had greater time to spend at home looking after their children, and this left them with more time…

Bread remains a key area of staple foods in Saudi Arabia with it being the largest category in both retail volume and current value terms. Bread accompanies many meals and therefore sales are not generally significantly impacted by factors such as…

Many bath and shower products are seen as an essential part of the daily hygiene routines of the local population with bar soap in particular being a relatively mature category. As such, growth in part is linked to population growth. Therefore, sales…

Although the Saudi economy actually contracted in 2023 due to a drop in oil revenue when it came to the Kingdom’s non-oil economy there continued to be growth, with this including spending on beauty and personal care. The retail industry is looking…

The clean beauty trend has been taking over the beauty and personal care market in Saudi Arabia, just as it has done the world over. Consumers are increasingly seeking out cosmetics products that make use of all-natural ingredients, vegan formulas…

With alcoholic drinks prohibited under Islamic law, beer sales in the Saudi Arabian market are totally reliant on non alcoholic beer. The COVID-19 crisis led to a marked decline in non alcoholic beer sales in 2020. The Saudi Arabian Government took a…

Unlike many home care categories in 2023, the average unit price of bleach continued to rise in Saudi Arabia, resulting in more dynamic current value growth compared to retail volume. Nevertheless, demand continued to rise in 2023, as bleach offers a…

Ever since the remaining COVID-19 related restrictions have been lifted there has been a strong demand among locals to start travelling again with many people having already gone back to all of their pre-pandemic travelling habits and more. Direct…

Bottled water remains by far the largest category of soft drinks in Saudi Arabia with increasing numbers of consumers switching to bottled water. Although tap water in the Kingdom is said to be safe to drink many people prefer to use bottled water,…

Breakfast cereals is witnessing healthy growth in 2023 and this is mainly due to the normalisation of life in the Kingdom and the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. The re-opening of schools and consumers returning to the workplace has had a…

With its favourable business environment, advanced transport infrastructure and high ICT adoption, Saudi Arabia is an attractive destination for business operations. The government is committed to ambitious reforms under Vision 2030, investing…

The butter market was significantly impacted by the war following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The conflict led to a significant increase in prices due to the shortage of supplies and labour, and logistics challenges. All these factors…

Cafés/bars was one of the categories in the consumer foodservice industry to be hit hardest by the COVID-19 crisis. The pandemic led to the closure of many outlets, especially cafés located in shopping centres, as those were extremely severely…

The hot weather in Saudi Arabia continues to support sales of carbonates, with sales also benefiting from the large number of consumers aged under 30, who are a key target audience for these products. Despite this, consumers in Saudi Arabia continue…

Cat food dominates pet care sales in Saudi Arabia with the category continuing to see dynamic double-digit growth in value and volume terms in 2023. This is largely due to the growing population pet cats and increasing awareness of the benefits of…