Customers shopping at one of the retail stores on weekend. Pic by Abdul Basit / The Peninsula
As the new academic year commences for schools in Qatar, retailers, hypermarkets, malls, and bookstores witnessed a huge sale on various ‘Back to School’ promotions. Special deals and offers are available on all products ranging from school accessories to smart devices and electronic gadgets.
Customers continued to flock as children accompanied by their parents have been buying new school bags and stationery, a supervisor of a hypermarket told The Peninsula, noting the sales of school stationery has surged in the past week as the demand for lunch box, water bottle, notebook, pens, pencils, sharpener, highlighter, markers, erasers and others has increased.
Several outlets launched Buy-One-Get-One-Free offers and deals to lure customers. “Customers are buying desktop computers, laptops, printers, headsets, and many other IT accessories as currently there is an ongoing promotion campaign on these items,” said a sales executive of a major retail outlet. “Prices of laptops with basic features start from QR1,000. Our buyers vary from students to company employees. But most students prefer laptops which range between QR1,000 and QR3,000,” he added.
Helping parents with the costs of schools during the new academic year, Doha Bank tweeted on its official handle: “Paying your child’s School Fees was never this convenient and rewarding. Receive up to 10 percent Cashback on school fee payments when you use your #DohaBank Cashback Credit Card and save on your child’s school fee expenses”.
Hypermarkets and stores throughout the country are having exclusive ‘Back To School’ special offers and gift vouchers on selected items. Shopping malls are allowing visitors including children with a capacity not exceeding 50 percent. Mall of Qatar’s ‘Back to School’ campaign includes special offers on an extensive collection for an active school year. It will be offering a unique educational experience for people of all ages until
September 2.
Doha Festival City has also offered ‘Back to School’ collections and essentials at a plethora of stores in line with the preventative measures set out by the authorities and has introduced stringent health and safety measures throughout the mall for its staff and visitors. This includes a thorough mall disinfection treatment on a weekly basis, robust cleaning, and sanitisation operations during mall trading hours, and 225 hand sanitising stations installed in the areas that have commonly touched surfaces.
Bookstores in the country are also having lucrative deals and offers with ‘Back to School’ promotions, offering great deals including new phones or laptops required by children for blended learning. Also several shoe wear under the ‘Back to School’ promo are offering several preferred brands for limited period for competitive prices.
The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has geared up to welcome the students in schools for new academic years 2021-22 which will begin today in public schools. The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has also extended its full support to protect students, teachers and other staff from the pandemic. Based on the health indicators in the country, a blended learning system with rotation attendance of 50 percent as per school capacity has been decided to be implemented in schools for the new academic year.
