JEDDAH, 8 April 2003 — The images of war that are flickering on the TV screens across the Kingdom have changed the shopping habits of Saudis, according to a straw poll conducted by Arab News over the last two days.
The findings suggest that essential foodstuffs are being sold as usual, but that sales are compressed into shorter periods of intense activity every day.
“There’s a smaller than usual trickle of customers in the day,” said Rashid Omar, floor manager of a major supermarket in north Jeddah. “The early evening brings out much bigger crowds, and the rush continues until about 11 p.m. But total food sales have remained about the same.”
Food prices have generally remained stable and there is no obvious sign of panic buying or hoarding. Customers of all nationalities continue to spend across the range on foodstuffs.
A slightly different picture emerges from the luxury goods market. Riyaz Mian, who manages an electrical goods shop at the Jeddah International Market, said that spending habits have changed dramatically.
“We have a large number of people coming into the store to look at goods,” he said. “Saudis, however, have reduced their spending dramatically. From conversations we have with them, we get the impression they are holding on to their money.”
Some expatriate groups, particularly the Filipino community, are still spending. Fawzi Ahmad is manager of a camera and film-processing outlet for an international organization based in north Jeddah.
“When it comes to film purchase and processing,” he said, “there’s been little change in volume of sales. New equipment sales — cameras and so on — are down by 20 or 30 percent.”
Fawzi confirmed that this fall in sales was reflected across the board locally.
“From conversations with other traders in the area, it seems that sales of new luxury items are well down. Twenty-five percent seems about the average.”
He shared Riyaz Mian’s experience of Saudi and Filipino spending habits.
“A great deal of our trade comes from the Filipino community,” he said “and that seems totally unaffected by the war. The Saudi community seems much more cautious.”
The downturn in trade is affecting other areas of spending as well as the luxury retail trade.
The general manager of a five-star hotel, part of an international group, who asked not to be named, painted a far gloomier picture, using the example of his flagship hotel in Jeddah.
“We have over 250 bedrooms here,” he said “Normally we have around 70 percent occupancy, and our clientele is drawn mainly from inside the Kingdom. Right now, we have only 30 rooms occupied.”
He said the downturn started three days before the war broke out. Since then both the numbers of guests in the hotel and of casual diners in the restaurant have fallen dramatically,” he said. “Talking to other general managers in the area, we are only one example of a general trend. People have just stopped traveling,” he said.
