Dubai: It's not business as usual during Ramadan.
With longer working hours, business managers say it's primarily a promotion-driven time of the year. Businesses can go from slow to busy in just one day, many business managers say. That's every day for a whole month.
"We are doing a radio campaign in which we sponsor competitions [on the air]," said Marwan Kandeel, Senior Brand Manager at Cravia, which runs restaurant chains such as Cinnabon, Zaatar w Zeit and Seattle's Best Coffee.
Kandeel said that the company's investment in marketing makes up 2.7 per cent of its sales revenue. "So it fluctuates," he said. "However, every Ramadan there is something special on offer."
This Ramadan, Cinnabon is launching its new "twisted chocolate sticks" while Seattle's Best Coffee is launching its new marshmallow coffee, Kandeel said. Zaatar w Zeit will have a special iftar offer for customers ending their fast.
Even the Cinnabon family pack will be on offer for up to 50 per cent off.
With many new promotions on offer, the first two weeks of Ramadan are usually slow, he said.
"The last two weeks people start to go out to the malls more and people start shopping for Eid," he said. "The last ten days will also include back to school shopping so business improves generally."
Shahrzad Sadr, marketing and communications executive at Rose Rayhaan by Rotana said that the Eid period is usually the busiest. It's a time when people travel and stay at hotels.
Hotel bookings
She said it's not until the middle of Ramadan that the hotel starts to see an increase in the number of bookings. "We are expecting a good Eid, but rather a slow Ramadan," she told Gulf News. "The expected occupancy rate during the three days of Eid between 8 and 11 September is around 70 per cent." As it happens every year, a lot of last minute reservations are made, she said.
Aside from offering holding an iftar buffet, the hotel is also giving away 30 room nights for free based on raffle draws. "So there we'll be having 30 iftars, 30 raffle draws and 30 free rooms."
Sadr said that their Eid promotions will be advertised within the GCC.
While much focus is on food during Ramadan, it becomes more about fashion, gadgets and entertainment towards the end of it.
"The focus moves from food to fashion and buying clothes and getting ready for Eid," said Neelesh Bhatnagar, chief executive officer of Max Electronics. "From an electronics point of view, we do good business before the month of Ramadan for kitchen appliances," he said. "Everyone wants to have their kitchen appliances in order."
Max Electronics also has its share of Ramadan promotions. "We are running a 20 per cent cash back on appliances for the next purchase," Bhatnagar said, whereby the customer gets a 20 per cent shopping voucher. "It's a major offer because the margin in this industry is not so high."
Even if it's not one of the best months for businesses, Bhatnagar said that everyone needs to be in the market during Ramadan. "It happened that last year it came right before the Gitex [Gulf Information Technology Exhibition]. Between Eid and Gitex, IT shopping usually drops, so between mid-September and mid-October the market is already depressed."
"You try to fight back with promotions." Al Futtaim Motors have already kicked off their promotions even before the start of Ramadan.
"It's an important commercial period and we tend to have a seasonal peak where sales tend to go up," said Hugh Dickerson, senior general manager for sales and marketing of Toyota at Al Futtaim Motors.
While Dickerson didn't give a figure by how much the sales go up or how much money is put into their marketing, he said that September is expected to be their largest month of the year. "It's tricky because Ramadan moves every year," he said.
Marketing strategy
Explaining their marketing strategy, Dickerson said that they're trying to make sure that their promotions will enable a wider group of people to buy cars.
"For example, for the Toyota Corolla and the Toyota Yaris, the customer won't have to make any monthly payments until after Ramadan 2011," he said. That's over a year from today.
With longer marketing hours for Al Futtaim Motors as well, Dickerson said that over all it's a "massive" marketing investment. Although it's a slow start for some, Al Futtaim Motors predicts the demand will be consistent throughout the period.
He said that there's always some kind of campaign to keep business moving. "There's really never a low with Dubai Shopping Festival, Dubai Summer Surprises and now Ramadan. "Ramadan means great offers and we know we'll be selling a good number of cars throughout this one."
