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As the pandemic spread around the world has been upturning people’s lives, it also changed the way that people do things. Shopping habits are yet another example of a routine that has changed in a big way. We’ve taken a close look at how these practices have changed in the Middle East, focusing on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt.

From wearing masks and washing our hands more carefully than ever to working from home COVID, has changed our behaviour in dramatic and measurable ways. The virus has also had a versatile impact on consumer behaviour, with large swathes of the world’s population changing their well-worn habits within a few short weeks. Following on from our previous pieces about work-life post lockdown and how the pandemic has affected attitudes towards health, we have taken a deep dive into the altered shopping habits of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa and globally.

Globally 34% of people claim to be shopping online more than they did before the pandemic. Sub Saharan Africa hasn’t followed this trend to the same degree with only 16% of South Africans and 27% of Nigerians shopping online more than before. However, this does not mean that people in these countries are unafraid of the virus. Rather people appear to be buying in bulk and visiting physical stores less often than they did before, complementing this shopping with online buying. Only 15% of worldwide respondents say they have not altered their shopping habits. Nigeria (14%) mirrors this but a greater number of South Africans (21%) have not changed the way they shop. Of the three Sub-Saharan countries in question, the last amount of Kenyans (10%) have not changed the way they shop.

COVID-19 has played havoc on people’s working lives around the world. We have taken a closer look at how the pandemic has affected people working in the Middle East, specifically in the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Festive celebrations amid the lockdown have been very different and unusual this year with people adopting new habits and new ways of celebrations. We noticed the impact of lockdown on Ramadan and the people celebrating it with our recent study. Hence, we continued our study to understand the effects of lockdown on Eid celebrations in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt.