Shopping at Lulu vs Carrefour in the UAE
Carrefour and Lulu Hypermarket are two of the biggest retail supermarket chains in the UAE. Catering to specific consumer demands, they have become popular options for any grocery shopper in the country. While they both offer a variety of excellent facilities to their customers, their product range, prices and services are slightly different from each other. If you want to know the differences between the two, this comparison of Carrefour vs Lulu will help you make an informed choice.
CARREFOUR VS LULU IN THE UAE – A COMPARISON
Number of Branches
Lulu Hypermarket and Carrefour have a strong presence across the UAE. Lulu has 489 branches across the UAE including 103 Lulu Hypermarket branches in Abu Dhabi, 156 in Dubai and 69 in Sharjah and 59 in Al Ain. Smaller emirates such as Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah and Umm Al Quwain also have over 30 branches respectively.
Carrefour on the other hand has 31 hypermarkets and 73 supermarkets in the UAE, out of which 28 are in Dubai and more than 5 are in Abu Dhabi.
Types of Products
Whether it’s Carrefour or Lulu, each of them has a wide range of products, starting from basic grocery items to home appliances. Lulu, however, also has a wider selection of fashion and home furnishing products. You can also buy clothes, footwear and sunglasses from Lulu Hypermarket. In fact, Lulu even has quite a few options for ethnic wear.
Prices of Basic Grocery Items
Both Lulu and Carrefour offer basic grocery items at a fairly similar rate. For instance, 500 ml of fresh milk is available for as low as AED 2.9 at Carrefour, whereas you can buy the same quantity of milk from Lulu within AED 3.25.
Similarly, both of them offer a diverse selection of fruits and vegetables, based on their seasonal availability. Carrefour, however, has a slightly more premium variety, especially in the larger stores.
When it comes to meat, their prices vary based on the type of meat, quantity and brand. While Carrefour also has different types of high-quality meats, Lulu has an abundance of options sourced from India, Pakistan, Australia, Brazil, Norway and New Zealand.
Types of Services
There are also quite a few banks in Dubai as well as Abu Dhabi that allow their customers to avail of discounts and other facilities at Lulu and Carrefour. These include ADBC and Emirates NBD. Those with ADCB Lulu Platinum Credit Card can earn 1 LuluPoint each time they shop at any Lulu store across the country. Once shoppers have collected 5000 points, you get a voucher worth AED 50. Similarly, there is Emirates NBD’s LuLu 247 Mastercard Platinum Credit Card that allows you to earn up to 7% points on Lulu in-store and online spends, 4% on fuel, 2% on utility bill payment and 0.7% on other miscellaneous spends.
In addition to this, there is a SHARE rewards programme as well. SHARE members can earn points by shopping across all the popular Majid Al Futtaim stores including Carrefour. You can pay for your purchase at Carrefour using these points.
Delivery Options
Lulu offers 2 types of delivery options: courier delivery and supplier delivery. While the former is through their partner Aramex (UAE), the later is mostly used for larger household products. Carrefour also uses Aramex, in addition to UPS and CarrefourNow. CarrefourNow is an express delivery system that operates in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.
Payment Options
You can use credit and debit cards, cash, vouchers, store coupons, cashback tickets, gift cards, ADCB vouchers and MyCLUB points to be paid at both Lulu and Carrefour. Carrefour, however, also offers the Carrefour Pay and Cash on delivery (COD) option. To avail of the cash on delivery option at Carrefour, the maximum value of your order must be AED 2500. Alternatively, you can also pay via Najm Cards at Carrefour.
And that’s all we have for you – a comparison of Lulu and Carrefour stores in the UAE.
While both Carrefour and Lulu are among the most popular supermarkets in the UAE, you can also explore other supermarket chains in the country. There are many supermarkets in Dubai that you can buy grocery from. If you are living in the capital and want to stock up your pantry, supermarkets in Abu Dhabi could be the best bet. For those living in northern regions, supermarkets in Sharjah are the go-to destinations for grocery shopping.
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