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Products in the Local Market:
The industrial progress witnessed by the Kingdom in terms of investments and
production was accompanied by a parallel progress in quality and
competitiveness of the Saudi industrial products. This is a very important
factor in the current and future circumstances, as it is considered a principal
condition for establishment and development of industries which are able to
withstand and grow in a highly competitive local and international markets. In
this section, we shall shed light on the progress of competitiveness of
national products in the local markets, using some specialized marketing
surveys conducted by SIDF to compare the performance of a sample of Saudi
products with their similar imports in the local market.
The results of the said study and a market survey conducted by SIDF on a sample
of 42 local industrial products selected from 21 main sectors indicated that
the most of the Saudi products in the sample enjoy a good competitive position
in the local market in comparison with similar imports. The following table
includes a summary of the most important results.
Competitive Performance of a Sample of
National
Industrial Products in the Local Market
| Indicator
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Performance of the Local Products
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Overall Competitiveness Status
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62% have a good competitiveness status (of which 7% with high competitiveness)
38% have a weak competitiveness status
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Significant current factors in marketing competitiveness
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1st
factor : Price
* 55% of the local products have prices less than similar imports
2nd factor: Quality
*48% of the products are classified as excellent
36% as above medium
9% as medium
7% as low
3rd factor
: Brand name
*52% of the products have a good brand name (large number of them represents
international brand names).
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Source: Results of a field survey conducted by, SIDF
As table shows, most of the national industrial products generally enjoy a good
competitive status in comparison with similar imports and their performance is
good with regard to the current important competitiveness factors (price,
quality and brand name). The said study also indicated existence of other
marketing competitiveness factors (distribution, promotion, product warranty,
after-sale services etc.), which are currently acquiring increasing importance.
These factors will play a major role in the local market competition in the
near future. Generally, the future climate of competition in the local markets
seems to be aggressive, which poses more challenges on local producers for
maintaining and expanding their market shares. In addition to the challenges
emerged from competition in the local markets, substantial challenges are
expected to evolve when complying with the rules of W.T.O., where the local
market will be characterized by more openness and high competitiveness.
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