UAE Ramadan shopping: Fashion and new car sales to be the big winners in first post-COVID-19 promotions

UAE Ramadan shopping: Fashion and new car sales to be the big winners in first post-COVID-19 promotions

Dubai: Fashion and car sales could emerge as the biggest winners from the upcoming Ramadan promotions launching early April, while hypermarket retailers are preparing for the sharpest rise in demand on grocery and everyday needs from next week itself. “This will be the first post-Covid Ramadan, and that itself is a trigger for UAE’s shoppers to buy grocery in bulk ahead of the start of Ramadan,” said V. Nandakumar, Chief Commercial Officer at LuLu Group. “There will be no supply shortages on food products because of the situation in the global shipping and logistics movements. Retailers such as ourselves have stocked in advance and have committed supplies coming through the next few weeks. “Grocery will easily be the biggest category in the first two weeks of Ramadan because there are no more of the restrictions on social activity related to Covid.” The biggest challenge for retailers will be to keep prices steady. Inflation and the steep cost of shipping are cranking up the pressure on nearly all consumer categories, and with food being no exception. According to Nandakumar and sources at other retailers, there will be extra focus on Ramadan kits of daily grocery needs at “set prices”. “Maintaining prices