1. business and industrial

Marketing research companies in
Saudi Arabia and the challenges
they face
Consumer and marketing research companies have been around in the Middle East and North Africa
region for a few decades now and the region is touted as one with potential growth opportunities across
multiple sectors. Despite this, precise, reliable and actionable market research (both qualitative and
quantitative research) is still fairly hard to come by compared to many of the developed countries and
regions in the world. As a result, marketing research budgets in the Middle East are still very limited earning only about 1% of global research budgets in recent years.
Marketers face multiple challenges when it comes to predicting consumer behavior in Saudi Arabia and
UAE – and spotting trends. There is a distinct lack of credible market intelligence sources and a gap
between published data and on-the-ground reality. Most syndicated global reports on specific verticals
are exactly that – global – and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) feature as a small section these
reports without much granularity. In a scenario like this, it becomes all the more important to reach out
to local marketing research companies in key markets such as KSA (Saudi Arabia) and UAE (United
Arab Emirates) to bridge the gap. On-the-ground consumer and B2B research teams can not only help
contextualize the data gathered but also understand the socio-cultural nuances of the region and can
help reach out to real people in these markets getting the right consumer insights in the Arab world.
Given that over 80% of the UAE (United Arab Emirates) population and over 30% in KSA (Saudi Arabia)
is expatriate and a large part of this is a floating population, there is also the challenge of identifying
trends from qualitative and quantitative consumer research that will sustain and pan out beyond the
revolving population. Add to this complexities of diversity in terms of ethnicity, language and culture
and it can truly be a challenge for a marketer who is not based in the region (and for many who are) to
get a true sense of the consumer and the market. This makes generating consumer insight in the Middle
East even more challenging. Having a local partner to consult makes immense sense in these
circumstances.
Unboxed Consulting is a boutique consumer and marketing research agency based out of Dubai. Our
reach spans across the GCC (KSA, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar), the Levant (Lebanon, Jordan),
Iran, Iraq, North Africa (Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco) and Nigeria.
With multicultural moderators who are speakers of English, Arabic (different Dialects - Khaleeji,
Egyptian, Lebanese etc), Farsi, Hindi, French and Berber, we are geared to deliver qualitative consumer
research that goes beyond the brief and dig into that elusive insight for the brand. Our moderators are
adept at different projective techniques ranging from the most common word association and sentence
completion to NLP, Collage making and Brand Worlds. We provide viewing and simultaneous
translation into English if the client desires to listen in - either on location, via telephone or via the
Focus vision (in Dubai and Saudi Arabia)
Unboxed Consulting also provide quantitative research services using different modes of data collection
(CAPI, PAPI, CATI etc). We cover the MENA region and can execute quantitative projects of various
types with large sample sizes, including U&A, Concept and Product Tests, Car clinics, Segmentation,
Communication testing (various stages), B2B and trade studies , Customer Satisfaction, Pricing studies
and Brand equity. With a robust field team in each market we can action and turn around quantitative
studies in the Middle East quite rapidly. Our team of programmers can script complex questionnaires
and our statisticians can do all kinds of analysis depending on the need of the hour. It is also a leading
Qualitative Research Company in Saudi Arabia.