Markets welcome the new school year with competitive offers and prices

The UAE markets have intensified their preparations to welcome the new school year, with various packages of offers and discounts on school and educational supplies for all tastes and age groups, at competitive prices that suit different segments of society.

The country’s retail markets flourish every year with the start of the school season, in light of the variety of promotional offers and the significant increase in sales of school supplies, including clothing, stationery, bags, office supplies and pens.

The “Back to School” offers included wide participation from electronic platforms, shopping malls, libraries, and stationery stores across the country, based on their responsibility to support parents and students to obtain school supplies, through the discounts and offers they provide on a wide range of products they need with the return to school.

Shopping malls and major stores in the country have focused on providing students and their families with the school supplies they need in one place, giving them the opportunity to choose the highest quality and best priced school supplies, according to their needs, desires and financial situation.

Wajeb Al Khoury, Director of Line Investment and Real Estate Company, which specializes in managing and developing shopping centers, said, “Since the beginning of August, shopping centers in the country have begun preparing for offers and promotional campaigns at competitive and appropriate prices, in preparation for the back-to-school season by providing all the products and goods that students need.”

He explained that “the back-to-school season contributes significantly to a state of activity and prosperity in shopping malls, which leads to increased sales, with the variety of discounts that differ from one store to another,” pointing to a significant increase in demand for school supplies and stationery, by rates ranging between 25 and 30%, with the continuation of the campaigns.

He stressed the existence of strong competition between traditional and online stores, which benefits consumers, explaining that e-commerce platforms have come to account for a large share of sales for the new school year.

For his part, Ibrahim Al-Bahr, an economist specializing in retail trade affairs, stressed that the strong competition between the various centers and stores is in the interest of families and consumers, and contributes to providing goods at prices that suit all segments of society.

He said, “Online stores have come to account for a large portion of families’ purchases for the school season, in light of the various offers and attractive discounts they provide.”

He pointed out that there is a diversity of offers, products and discounts offered in the markets, which confirms the flexibility of the local market and its ability to meet the requirements of all consumer segments, in light of the existence of mechanisms to control the markets and verify the credibility of offers and campaigns.

In turn, the Commercial Control and Consumer Protection sectors in the various emirates of the country continued their field visits to a number of commercial centers and outlets specializing in selling school supplies and stationery, as part of a series of inspection campaigns in local markets, with the aim of ensuring their readiness and preparedness for the start of the school season, in addition to ensuring that prices are not exaggerated.

Field visits contribute to verifying the extent to which sales outlets comply with the requirements of promotional offers, in addition to demanding that they not negatively exploit the growth in demand for stationery products, which contributes to consolidating the rules of commitment in the local market, ensuring the achievement of a neutral and transparent mechanism in sales and purchase operations, and enhancing the competitive and commercial position of the country.