According to a survey by Kearney Middle East, it would appear that almost half of shoppers in the UAE will continue to use online platforms. The report revealed that nearly eighty percent of consumers in the country have changed their shopping habits during the global pandemic.
Five hundred UAE respondents took part in the research and sixty percent claimed that they had spend more on essential products including groceries, food, healthcare items than they did before the pandemic.
Despite the 24-hour lockdown, visiting a supermarket was revealed as the preferred method of shopping (34 percent), followed by online (27 percent), neighbourhood grocery/ convenience stores (22 percent) and hypermarkets (17 percent). However, consumers are increasingly turning to online shopping with over half (57 percent) of respondents spending more online than they did before.
Expenditure on non-essential items has also increased since the lockdown, with education and books being the most popular (23 percent). This was followed by the entertainment category – music and movies (21 percent), electronics (17 percent), home improvement and decoration (15 percent), fashion and beauty (12 percent) and toys and games (12 percent).
