Union Coop, the largest cooperative society in the UAE, has announced its promotional campaigns in preparation for Ramadan, with price reductions of up to 75 per cent for over 2,000 basic commodities.

The cooperative society said it has allocated a budget of AED 30 million for the campaigns which are in line with its annual efforts to spread the spirit of doing good and ease the cost burden on consumers who could get high-quality commodities at competitive prices.

The commodities covered by the campaigns will include rice, oil, poultry, meat, canned food, among various other Ramadan commodities.

The announcement came in a press conference held on Wednesday at the Union Co-op’s head office at Al Aweer. The press conference was attended by Dr Hashim Al Nuaimi, director of Consumer Protection at the Ministry of Economy; Hareb Mohammad Bin Thani, director of Operations division, representing the CEO of Union Coop; Suhail Al Bastaki, director of Happiness and Marketing department; and a number of media representatives and Union Coop officials.

Bin Thani said: “This step comes in line with our quest for realising consumer happiness, as we launch five promotional campaigns compared to three last Ramadan, representing 40 per cent increase in budget over last year’s Dh18 million. Our goal has always been to ease the financial burden on all citizens and residents of the UAE, and instill the spirit of giving and doing good.”

He also said the promotions will be launched before the holy month, inviting consumers to shop days ahead to avoid crowding and inconvenience on the first day of fasting, and allocate their precious time to observing the rituals of the holy season. Union Coop has concluded all preparations and provisioning processes and contracts, making sure all basic needs of the consumers are available in abundance at all its outlets.

Open basket

Bin Thani also noted that the success of the open basket campaign in the past years has motivated the Coop to relaunch it this year. Compared to 1,000 commodities last year, Bin Thani said, the open basket will include 2,000 commodities this year. “This 100 per cent increase over last year allows shoppers to select their own baskets regardless of price or number of goods, which enhances consumer happiness, especially with the diversified communities that live in Dubai and approach the Coop for their shopping needs.”