SAUDI ARABIA

Long vacation erodes buying power of Saudi, expat families

Low-price shops thrive as school season nears

September 11, 2017

Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — The low-price markets, like the two-riyal shops, drew the vast majority of citizens and expats with the approach of the new school year on Sept. 19. Many products were displayed at unusually cheap rates.

The long school vacation, coupled with Ramadan and Haj holidays, has weakened the financial position of many Saudi and expat families, which reflected on the buying power. Many such families began searching for cheaper products so they could buy school supplies before the start of the academic year.

The traders started selling sets of school items at unified prices reaching SR5-SR10 for the convenience of customers who are looking for cheap products. This drove many families to visit low-price shops, instead of buying expensive items from regular shops, which are now facing a decline in sales.

The low-price shops succeeded in attracting the attention of Saudi families with unique promotional offers.

Abdullah Al-Subhi, one of the shoppers, said shops in the low-price markets really understand the needs of families, especially large ones. He held a box that contained three notebooks, three pens and many other school supplies, which cost him SR10 only. He said that this would satisfy the needs of many families who are already suffering financially.

Al-Subhi added, “The summer vacation had many religious and social occasions that drained our pockets. Since the start of the summer vacation, I went through the Ramadan expenses, followed by Eid Al-Fitr. After that it was time to travel abroad for vacation, then came Haj and Eid Al-Adha. Some of my family members went for Haj and that was additional expense. Each season has own needs and expenses. I was forced to go to low-price shops just to get through this.”

Khaled Thamer, another Saudi citizen, said it is very difficult for families to set a specific budget for each occasion, especially government employees. He said families will automatically search for places that suit their budgets and it was noticed that many families are leaning toward the cheap stationery items.

Mansour Al-Nahdi, sales supervisor at a low-price market, said his main job is to attract the attention of families by all means. He added, “We found out that unifying prices is suitable for family shoppers because it will give them an idea of what they want to buy based on their budgets. Instead of setting a price for one item, we thought of mixing more than three items with a unified price and that proved to be very attractive to families.”


September 11, 2017
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