JEDDAH, 9 October 2006 — With the end of the second week of Ramadan, the total amount of money spent on food in the Kingdom has reached SR2 billion, according to sources working in the food retail market.
Eighty-five percent of food sales so far in the holy month took place in supermarkets. But corner shops and mini-markets in residential areas have managed to rake in a 15 percent share of the Ramadan rush.
The sources added that the five days before Ramadan were extremely busy with people in their hundreds and thousands stocking up in preparation for Ramadan.
Storeowners say they do about 25 percent more business during Ramadan than the rest of the year. According to a recent study, consumers in the Kingdom spend two to three times the normal monthly expense on food and household items stocking up for Ramadan.
Abdul Razzak Bin Dawood, chairman of the Bin Dawood chain stores of which there are 20 branches in Jeddah alone, said that the reason why supermarkets were so busy was that they provide shoppers with a wider choice to shop from.
Bin Dawood added, “Jeddah has witnessed many new hypermarkets in the last 10 years. Small grocery shops do not provide a wide variety of brands.” The prices and discounts also don’t match the prices of goods in hypermarkets.
“The modern shopping atmosphere in hypermarkets is liked by consumers. Hypermarkets offer cheaper prices and they are no match at all for smaller groceries that are unable to provide discounts and sales,” he said.
Abbas Farouq, an Indian worker at a grocery shop in the Al-Faisaliyah district of Jeddah, said that corner shops and mini-markets still attract customers mainly because they are easily accessible.
“Moreover, small grocery shops have the advantage over hypermarkets in providing services to shoppers looking to quickly buy one or two items. Customers generally do not like to go to hypermarkets and stand in long lines just to buy one or two items,” he said, adding that most hypermarket shoppers were of middle-income families where as people shopping at grocery stores were of limited income.
Abu Nehal, a worker at another store in Al-Faisaliyah, said that grocery shops have advantage over hypermarkets by being able to deliver goods at people’s homes.
“We faced huge competition when these hypermarkets opened. We got over it with the home delivery service, which hypermarkets are unable to provide. We provide shoppers that do not have time to go to the hypermarkets and want to buy one or two items with a quick solution,” said Abu Nehal.
“To be able to compete with hypermarkets, we have also developed a credit system that allows customers to pay at the end of the month,” he added.
