Middle East

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic led to greater use of digital wallets, as consumers shifted away from cash for online and in-store payments. With gaps in financial services, increased user functions on digital wallets are challenging banks to…

Last mile delivery platforms have disrupted shopping patterns and channels, particularly for grocery categories. Despite their growth, questions about their ability to achieve profitability remain. This briefing includes an overview of trends in last…

Gastrointestinal disorders such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), peptic ulcers, and gastritis are relatively common in the United Arab Emirates. Digestive remedies such as proton pump inhibitors are effective in treating these conditions by…

As leisure and entertainment are on the rise in Saudi Arabia, including dining out, more people are facing digestive problems. Furthermore, during the holy month of Ramadan, more people experience digestive disorders such as bloating, heartburn, acid…

The return to relatively normal patterns of eating out at restaurants, combined with more stressful on-the-go lifestyles, is leading to an increase in digestive health issues in 2023. In retail volume terms, there is a modest increase in sales of…

Dietary supplements has witnessed a surge in products targeting beauty and anti-ageing, which reflects consumers’ growing desire for holistic wellness solutions and the “beauty from within” trend. Supplements such as co-enzyme Q10, which is known for…

Dietary supplements is set to maintain dynamic current value growth in 2023. After the onset of the pandemic, consumers educated themselves on the health benefits of specific ingredients, and became particularly interested in dietary supplements with…

Dietary supplements is a sizeable product area in Israel, only second behind analgesics, and it is expected to register strong current value growth in 2023, and the highest rate during the review period. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the…

Hair loss treatments in the United Arab Emirates has been experiencing increased fragmentation, due to the emergence of numerous new entrants, with the value share of the smallest players, included under “others” set to rise above 50% for the first…

In 2023, dermatologicals is set to return to solid current value growth, although performances are expected to vary widely across categories. For instance, hair loss treatments is expected to continue to benefit from consumers’ perception of their…

The incidence of head lice is rising back to normal levels in 2023 as children circulate freely in schools and at social gatherings, and kids play close together. With retail volume sales back to pre-pandemic levels in 2022, demand for…

Overall demand for depilatories in the United Arab Emirates remained positive in 2023, although volume growth continued to notably slow, while value growth rose further due to price increases. The category is dominated by hair removers/bleaches in…

Sales of depilatories continued to decline in retail volume terms in 2023. Aside from a brief recovery during 2020 when hair and beauty salons were forced to close – and thus women had to take a DIY approach to hair removal – sales of depilatories…

Depilatories saw current value growth in Israel in 2023, though not as high a growth rate as other beauty and personal care categories. Laser hair removal is having a significant impact on the depilatories category. As more people get permanent hair…

Demand for deodorants in the United Arab Emirates continued to rise in 2023, driven by greater personal hygiene awareness, health consciousness, social media influence, and the enduring impact of the pandemic, as well as government awareness…

With consumers spending more time outside of the home again there was greater incentive to wear deodorants in 2023 with this helping to fuel demand. With the World Health Organisation declaring the pandemic to be over in early 2023 more consumers…

Deodorants witnessed dynamic current value growth in Israel in 2023. After many companies reduced their use of discounts and increased prices at the end of 2022, the price rises were felt strongly in the final year of the review period. Unilever…

Contactless payments are becoming increasingly popular in the United Arab Emirates, driven by the convenience and safety they offer. Banks are accelerating the adoption of contactless payment technology, embedding NFC (Near Field Communication) chips…

Debit cards continue to make up a large portion of all financial cards in Saudi Arabia. Indeed, debit cards are even more prevalent than credit cards in the KSA, owing to a number of factors, such as wide acceptance and convenience of use, as well as…

In 2023, Israel experienced a notable surge in debit card usage as more individuals opted to pay with credit cards instead of cash. The number of debit cards in circulation increased remarkably. Furthermore, the volume of transactions using debit…