A recent report by YouGov looks at how KSA residents outlook towards their finances and where they are spending.
It also looks into their attitudes and preferences across finance, retail, travel, advertising, tech and media sector.
Money matters
The number one used financial app is STC pay. 45 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s population say that Stc Pay is the mobile payment platform they typically use. The second app that is not far behind in numbers is Mada Pay.
Surprisingly, global payment platforms such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay lie on the lower end of the scale.
Apple Pay is used more often compared to Samsung Pay, when comparing 32 per cent of people who said they used Apple Pay to Samsung Pay’s 11 per cent.
When it comes to financial services, most of the respondents opted for Mada as their choice. After Mada, the next most popular ones are Visa and Stc Pay.
When it comes to retail banks on the other hand, almost half of the respondents chose Alrajahi Bank. The remaining were split almost equally between Riyad Bank and Alinma Bank.
Consumer’s choice
The report also highlighted which retail outlets the KSA residents purchase from.
Saudi retailers Jarir and Panda were found to be highly preferred among the respondents.
Among the KSA residents, 35 per cent used bookstore retailer Jarir and 33 per cent used the grocery retailer Panda. The outlets they usually consider next are Noon and Extra.
KSA residents seem to opt for local brands over global brands. Though that doesn’t seem to be the case when it comes to hotels.
Most of these respondents gave preference to hotel brands such as Hilton, Sheraton and Intercontinental (IHG).
Most respondents (32%) picked Hilton as their preferred brand. These were followed by Sheraton and Intercontinental (IHG) at 21 and 20 per cent each.
When it comes to electronic goods, Samsung and Apple take big chunks of the pie. At 44 per cent, Samsung sits slightly higher than Apple’s 43 per cent among the most considered brands.
LG, Huawei and Sony take up a much smaller share between 27-24 per cent.
The advertising effect
A little more than half of the respondents (52%) agreed that advertising helps them choose what to buy.
When it came towards their outlook towards events and advertising, the report found that a large percentage (55%) of these people often searched for products and services on their phones as a result of seeing posters and billboards.
The report also found that the people liked it when the companies had a moral message to their advertising.
