United Arab Emirates

Overall retail tissue experienced stable demand in 2020, supported by the home seclusion trend as a result of the pandemic-induced lockdown and movement restrictions. This meant that consumers were spending more time in their homes, rather than going...

The pandemic had a positive impact on demand for wipes with antibacterial properties in the United Arab Emirates in 2020, as consumers placed a greater focus on following strict hygiene and cleaning routines, not only whilst confined to their homes ...

Unlike most tissue and hygiene categories in 2020, sanitary protection was not particularly impacted by the emergence of COVID-19 and subsequent restrictions introduced in an attempt to control the spread of the virus but rather by the general ...

Demand for retail adult incontinence in 2020 improved in comparison to the previous year due to some initial stockpiling as a result of the pandemic-induced lockdown as vulnerable groups including the increasing elderly population, were encouraged to...

Nappies/diapers/pants was only marginally impacted by the pandemic in 2020, with some initial stockpiling noted during lockdown restrictions. Despite ongoing marginal declines in the average birth rate across the United Arab Emirates, resulting in a ...

In the midst of the pandemic, retail tissue and hygiene performed relatively well in 2020 in the United Arab Emirates due to increased consumer awareness of the need for stringent cleaning and hygiene in both their homes, and on a personal level. ...

Volume sales of away-from-home tissue took a significant hit in 2020, directly linked to the pandemic and subsequent lockdown, which resulted in the closure of all horeca outlets and businesses. AFH paper tableware and AFH paper towels were the most ...

Consumer confidence and worries about limited disposable income are driving some consumers to downgrade to private label. Brands are responding by offering discounts on discretionary products and lots of promotions including 2-for-1 offers to attract...

UAE, with its strict employment laws, has caused some confusion about the legal status of working full-time as a direct seller. For example, Dubai’s Department of Economic activity (DED) views direct selling as a part-time activity and sellers are ...

2020 was poised to be a year when over 25 million visitors came to the UAE for Expo2020, which was expected to fuel the demand for vending machines. Related to this, there was an expectation that there would be a growing range of cashless vending ...

Staying at home in 2020 has greatly reduced the need for certain apparel and footwear categories. Instead there has been an increased focus towards comfortable clothing. In response to this, many retailers have entered the loungewear and “all-day” ...

Founded in 2005, Citruss TV is based in Dubai and is the Arab world’s first dedicated homeshopping TV channel. The pandemic prevented many UAE residents from shopping abroad, which benefited Citruss TV as its content is targeted at middle-aged ...

Jashanmal continues to lead the category in 2020, although it is being challenged by other value-for-more players such as Brands for Less and Daiso. With a greater concentration of homewares and luggage items, the average selling space in Jashanmal ...

The cost of living in the UAE has been steadily decreasing since 2014 and in 2020 Dubai and Abu Dhabi became even more affordable due to dramatically lowered rental prices. Since many expats who lost jobs left the country and new housing units ...

While the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 saw a volume decline of the category due to the slowdown of economic activity with expatriates losing jobs and downsizing, there were some pandemic-related categories that did exceptionally well. For example, ...

Traditional grocery retailers have registered declines in growth for two consecutive years after many years of uninterrupted growth. Given that the majority of the UAE’s modern retailing landscape is made up of modern retailers, consumers are less ...

With over 1,000 retail stores and a total internal floor area of 5.9 million sq ft, it was major news when in early April 2020 Emaar-owned Dubai Mall created a virtual mall. The shopping mall partnered with noon (also owned by Emaar) in order to ...

The UAE is a land of malls and corporations so a great number of convenience stores in the UAE are found within malls and corporate offices rather than tucked away in residential neighbourhoods. Due to this unfortunate positioning, convenience stores...

Many department stores, especially the high-end department stores, rely heavily on tourist spend from international arrivals, especially tourists from China and other Gulf countries. The recovery of travel will help the recovery of this channel....

When you think of hypermarkets in the UAE, the image that comes to mind are massive outlets teeming with consumers and long queues. In 2020, those attributes made some consumers wary and pushed them toward more local supermarkets. Furthermore, while ...