UAE shoppers can compare 8,343 essential goods prices across 525 outlets

Platform draws 143,720 visitors and tracks prices across 13 major retailers

Last updated:
Nivetha Dayanand, Assistant Business Editor
UAE grocery
UAE grocery
Supplied

Dubai: UAE shoppers can compare prices for 8,343 essential products across 525 outlets operated by 13 major retailers through the Ministry of Economy and Tourism’s Essential Goods Prices Platform.

The platform, which was launched in April, attracted approximately 143,720 visitors between mid-April and July 2026, averaging more than 1,451 visits each day.

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Consumers can use the pricing information to compare products across participating retailers before deciding where to shop, while the ministry uses the same data to monitor price movements and identify changes that may require further review.

More products and retailers planned

The ministry plans to expand the platform by adding more products and participating retail outlets, giving shoppers a broader range of prices to compare.

Pricing data collected through the system is also used to produce periodic analyses of price fluctuations across UAE retailers and assess the factors influencing market movements.

The platform connects digital monitoring with field inspections, allowing authorities to review market developments using current pricing data and indicators.

As part of the Ministry's ongoing efforts to strengthen market oversight, the Essential Goods Prices Platform provides an advanced digital tool for monitoring prices and tracking changes in price levels and market movements with greater consistency and accuracy. It enables continuous monitoring of market developments, analysis of emerging trends, and identification of patterns or changes that require further review and verification. The platform has also enhanced the Ministry's ability to respond efficiently to any developments or changes affecting market dynamics.
Safeya Al Safi, Assistant Undersecretary for the Control and Commercial Governance Sector at the Ministry of Economy and Tourism

Retailers across the UAE continue to maintain sufficient supplies of goods and provide consumers with a range of products and alternatives, according to the ministry.

Data supports consumer protection

The ministry said the platform’s data and statistics are being used to strengthen consumer protection measures and provide shoppers with more accurate information when making purchasing decisions.

Regular analysis of pricing patterns also supports policy decisions related to markets, retail pricing and consumer protection.

Nivetha Dayanand
Nivetha DayanandAssistant Business Editor
Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, covering aviation, financial markets and commodities. A business and financial journalist with a strong interest in multimedia storytelling, she regularly takes complex financial and economic subjects beyond the written word, producing explainer videos that make them easier for a wider audience to understand. Nivetha has interviewed senior policymakers, business leaders and global financial figures both on and off camera. Her past guests include UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, a member of the House of Saud and the founder and CEO of KBW Ventures, Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund and Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu. She has also hosted and moderated panels, conferences and awards shows, bringing her newsroom experience to live conversations on business, finance and the economy. An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha is drawn to stories that affect people directly and to reporting that gives a platform to voices that might otherwise go unheard. She was among the first journalists to speak to Petrofac employees in the UAE about unpaid salaries, broke the news of the planned demolition of Dubai’s well-known “Toyota Building”, and helped set the record straight on widely circulated claims that a giant replica of the Moon was coming to Dubai. More recently, her exclusive interview with EDGE Group CEO Hamad Al Marar revealed how the UAE-based defence group deployed its systems along the country’s shore border and established a geofence around the UAE within 48 hours of the February 28 escalation. Prior to joining Gulf News, Nivetha worked at ITP Media, where she helped launch Finance Middle East, a new publication covering the region’s financial sector. Her role spanned reporting and editing, video production, interviews and events. Across print, digital, and video, she focuses on finding the people behind business stories and explaining why those stories matter to the audience reading or watching them.
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