Ramadan the holy month of fasting and charity causes a lot of changes in the retail industry as food habits change quite a bit during this time. Most of the promotions revolve around items needed for the preparations of Iftars and Suhur. The malls remain open until 1-2 a.m. during Ramadan as residents have Suhur late at night or early in the morning.
2022 was the first post-covid year where traditions & celebrations continued the same way they did during the pre-covid era. More people were seen outside, gatherings were normalized and get togethers started to take their usual course.
Following is our Report of Ramadan 2022. We considered 20 supermarkets from KSA and UAE. User engagement is based on user interaction data with the ClicFlyer mobile application.
Ramadan Promotion Market Share and User Engagement Trend
Last year Ramadan promotions started as early as 5 weeks before Ramadan (23rd Feb’22-1st March’22) and continued until 1 week after Ramadan (4th May’22–10th May)
According to our reports, consumers interacted more with Ramadan specific promotions, rather than standard offers and flyers.
During the first week and a week before the first week, the highest number of Ramadan Promotions and User Engagement with Ramadan Promotions were recorded.
It is interesting to note that there is most definitely an early promotion advantage for both the retailers and consumers because people like to be prepared beforehand for the Ramadan month and stock up, rather than shopping during the Ramadan month. The ratio of % of user engagement Vs % of promotion share is higher in the run up to week 0 (Week 1 of Ramadan).
Most promoted sub-categories during Ramadan Season
The most promoted items in Bakery and Sweets were Arabic Sweets because people prefer traditional sweets and Kunafa for offerings and desserts.
In Fruits and Veg, Dried fruits, especially dates were the most promoted Item. In disposables, foils and cling films were also highly promoted on account of all the gatherings for Iftar and Suhur.
In Electronics, Kitchen Appliances (juicer, oven, mincer) were promoted the most.
Sub-Categories that underwent a decline in offers during Ramadan Promotions
During Ramadan, most people shift towards more spiritual routines, the work hours are reduced, and for Iftar, traditional non-vegetarian dishes are consumed. Naturally, there was a decline in the promotions of the following sub-categories:
Popular Searches during Ramadan Period
The top 10 most popular searches during Ramadan period were all food items .
The popular searches for Non-Ramadan months don’t differ much, but the search volume during Ramadan had increased significantly.
During Ramdan, tradition dishes like Biriyani, Machbous and Harees are preferred.
Most of these dishes consist of rice and chicken.
Following the special Ramadan menu, cooking oil (Sunflower, olive oil) had a massive search volume of 203k, followed by chicken items with 176k (fresh chicken parts, frozen chicken parts) and Basmati rice with 100k.
Hike in the usage of the “Buy Online” Feature
In the pre-covid era, Ramadan shopping was mostly done at brick-and-mortar stores but post covid, more and more people are adopting online shopping.
Searches for Ramadan are as high as those for White Friday, which is MENA’s biggest online shopping moment. As you can see below, the ClicFlyer Buy Online feature that redirects customers to e-commerce websites, was used twice as much during the week before Ramadan and the first week of Ramadan. This means more customers opted for online shopping to prep-up for Ramadan.
What to expect in Ramadan 2023?
A high promotion volume is to be expected during the Ramadan months (approx. 10% of non-ramadan months’ total promotions).
In 2023 we can again expect higher promotions on chicken items, cooking oil, dates, traditional sweets, kitchen appliances and disposable utensils.
More online offers and website traffic on e-commerce platforms are to be expected.
Offers will begin 5-6 weeks before Ramadan, i.e., around 20th February 2023.
ClicFlyer is a BI and Analytics company that provides Business Intelligence and analytics solutions to help Retail Companies and Brands make informed decisions.
We bring to the table our own data on promotions & our services include data analysis, data visualization, predictive analytics, data mining, and more.
We offer a variety of tools and platforms to help our clients gain insight into promotional pricing & distribution strategies through dashboards, reporting, and dashboard integration. We also offer custom solutions to fit your specific requirements.
Our team of experienced professionals is equipped to provide you with the best possible solutions and advice to help you make the most of your data.
For more info, reach out to- sales@clicflyer.com
