The local franchisee of French retailer Carrefour enjoyed significant boosts to brand awareness and online sales after running Facebook and Instagram ads during Ramadan in United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Case study summary
• Retail giant wanted to boost awareness of ecommerce in UAE and Saudi Arabia
• Creating themed video ads timed to coincide with Ramadan celebrations focused on making recipes
• Carousel format used dynamic ads automatically created to serve messages to those who had already expressed an interest in Carrefour.
• Saw 15% increase in app and and web purchases
The challenge
Headquartered in France, Carrefour is one of the world’s largest retailers, with more than 12,000 outlets in over 30 countries. It has a significant retail presence in both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and United Arab Emirates (UAE), where its hypermarkets and supermarkets are operated as franchises by Majid Al Futtaim Retail.
Carrefour wanted to boost its recently launched online offering in KSA and UAE, and to test the impact of Facebook on awareness and sales during the countries’ most sensitive and important time of the year, the holy month of Ramadan.
The solution
Working with the Facebook Client Measurement team, Carrefour implemented a testing method to measure the effects of Ramadan-themed advertisements on a host of metrics, from ad recall to app installs and purchases via app or web.
The ads featured photos and videos, some of which were presented in carousel format to encourage people to browse images or other content. The campaign used dynamic ads, which are automatically created from supplied assets to serve messages to those who had already expressed an interest in Carrefour.
To appeal to potential customers unaware of Carrefour’s online offering, the company used collection ads to showcase the catalogue via an inspiring Ramadan video focused on making recipes using Carrefour groceries.
The target audience was existing customers and potential new customers in both KSA and the UAE. The ads were delivered by automatic placements across Facebook, Instagram and Audience Network for maximum impact at the lowest cost.
Results
Carrefour in KSA and UAE found that its Facebook and Instagram ads during Ramadan boosted content views, app installs and purchases. Between May 5–June 5, 2019, the campaign achieved:
• 45% increase in app installs (KSA)
• 6.2% increase in app installs (UAE)
• 15% increase in app and and web purchases (KSA)
• 5.4% increase in app and and web purchases (UAE)
• 17.6-point increase in ad recall (KSA)
• 9.9-point increase in ad recall (UAE)
Sonja Abdo, VP Digital Marketing, Majid al Futtaim Retail, said: "Facebook’s study enabled Carrefour Saudi Arabia to quantify the benefits of targeted promotional and brand campaigns during one of our most important moments of the year, which is Ramadan. The uplift on both performance and brand key performance indicators was significant, and the results gave us valuable insights on the development of our media strategy with Facebook in this market."
