Competition in stationery sales surges

Stationery stores, hypermarkets, food supply stores and SR5 shops are all trying to get a slice of the Kingdom's SR2-billion-a-year school supply industry ahead of schools reopening next week.
Specialists say major markets and stores have made special offers on several of their products to attract families in an effort to boost their sales. Major retail outlets have issued brochures and booklets with the "back-to-school" slogan containing special offers.
“There will be more than 5 million schoolchildren in the new scholastic year, which begins next week,” says Ahmad Al-Qadi, a specialist in stationery sales. He said estimations place total sales of school supplies at SR2 billion, with an average spending budget of SR400 per student throughout the year.
“We began displaying our school supplies much earlier on,” says Mohammad Khan, a Pakistani salesman in one of northern Riyadh’s major markets. He said the majority of products are imported from China.
“We don’t need to attract our customers with adverts. We have developed a solid customer base. They buy their supplies from our store because of the difference in price between our products and those of other stationery shops and major retail chains,” said a salesman at a SR2 store.
"Certain school supply prices remain fixed in most stores and the disparity in prices does not exceed 10 to 20 percent in most cases. The highest variance in prices is noted mostly in school bags. A bag can be sold for SR50 at a small store but the same bag can be sold for SR100 at a major shopping center," he added.
There are a limited number of major stationery shops in northern and eastern Riyadh, but small and medium-sized ones are spread throughout the capital. Al-Atayif Street in the southern part of the capital stretches over a distance of 1,500 meters and has a wide range of school supplies that are sold at wholesale prices.
Mohammad Abdulrahman, a salesman at one of the stores in Al-Atayif, said this street has a long history in school supply sales, and that stationery shops are one of its major landmarks. Customers come from all over Riyadh and other governorates and cities to this street to buy their school supplies because of low prices and abundant products. He said, however, that sales have decreased due to supermarket chains entering the market, which has created a lot of competition.
Statistics say there are more than 4,000 stationery shops in Saudi Arabia, in addition to hypermarkets, supermarkets and the SR2 stores.