UAE National Day – 2021 Promotion Analysis

• Research Retailer

• By Team Clicflyer
• November 17, 2022

UAE National Day is celebrated every year on the 2nd of December. It marks the date of unification of the 7 emirates, forming one nation that is United Arab Emirates.
In 2021, UAE celebrated its Golden Jubilee, i.e. the 50th National Day.
To celebrate the event, a 4-day long weekend of National holiday was extended to the residents of the nation, providing the perfect opportunity for gatherings and celebrations.

Below is a study done by the team of ClicFlyer, to understand the promotions conducted by retailers during the National Day weeks.

Understanding the timeline of the campaign – Curation of flyers around ‘UAE National Week.’

Top 20 Retailers of UAE were considered for the following analysis.

In the chart above, Week 0 represents the National Day week (28th Nov’21 to 4th Dec’21).

? On the occasion of the 50th anniversary, 25% of the retailers started promoting UAE National Day flyers 4 weeks before the actual event in 2021.
? Around 65% of retailers started promoting National Day-specific offers 1 week before the National Day and as shown above, some retailers continued their special promotions until the first week of January 2022.

In addition to national day theme flyers, regular flyers were also continued to be published by different retailers. The weekly share of national day theme offers in the market is given below:

Top Categories Designated for Offers During UAE National Weeks and Regular weeks

Regular Weeks (3rd Oct to 23rd Oct)	UAE National Weeks (21st Nov to 11th Dec)

As shown above, during National weeks, fruits and vegetables category offers were reduced and instead frozen food items were more promoted. As the government announced public holidays from Dec 1st to 3rd and official work resumed on Sunday, Dec 5, all the government as well as private sector employees got to enjoy a four-day long weekend to celebrate and spend time with their family and friends. To promote/support family gathering and outings, the following segments observed increased promotion share within their respective categories in National day themed flyers.

• Camping & Accessories
• Barbeque & Charcoal
• Outdoor Furniture
• Home Décor
• Disposable Plates, Hand Sanitizer
• Water bottles, Long Life Juices

In food items, most of the retailers started to push more promotions on frozen, ready to eat items like- frozen pizzas, wraps, sandwiches, burger, marinated and breaded meat, frozen shrimps, and other seafoods, etc. Lesser promotions were available for fresh food items like- fruits, vegetables, meat, and fish. Promotions on Arabic sweets like- Mammoul, Basbousa, Baklawa, Biscuits & Rusks, etc. were also promoted. Discounts offered for the above-mentioned items varied from 30% to 50%.

The dynamics of user engagement during the UAE National Day Period
Based on user engagement on ClicFlyer mobile app in UAE, it was observed that 50% of the weekly active users engaged in the first week (Week 44) of National Day theme flyers going live. This user share went up to 74% during National Day Week as shown in the chart below.

Expectations for 2022 during National Day Weeks
Because 2021 was the Golden jubilee year, promotions began 4 weeks prior to the event. In 2022, we can expect similar promotion pattern prior to UAE National Day. Regular flyers along with National Day theme flyers are expected to be published by most of the retailers.

Based on user engagement pattern, it would be advisable for retailers to promote National Day offers well in advance to attract more footfall to the stores.
Moreover, shoppers can watch out for some good deals in camping & accessories, outdoor furniture, barbeque & charcoal, and ready to eat items during National Day promotions in 2022.

ClicFlyer provides data-driven insights on promotions to Retailers and Brands across the GCC. The ClicFlyer app has over 1 million active users in the GCC, with over 250,000 offers promoted on the app every month. ClicFlyer’s insights help Retailers and Brands make smarter decisions on promotions, resulting in increased sales and customer loyalty.