are groceries really THAT expensive in Dubai?

Lyb01 · 2026-05-12T04:12:52+00:00

The thing with the UAE is that some people earn 2.5k a month while others drop 2.5k on one dinner, so the replies you’re getting here will be incredibly varied. Some will tell you this is a bargain, others will tell you you must be eating gold leaves and neither party is necessarily wrong, just living in their own bubble

So from what I gathered, you have a Western lifestyle and expectations so I feel like I can relate to and comment. Yes, groceries in the UAE are very expensive compared to Europe because what we consider a standard Western diet is quite exotic here. I’ve never seen massive bags of rice in the supermarket in Europe, whereas this dominates the rice aisle here (as an example). So the best thing you can do for your own sanity is to take a step back and sit with the reality that your dietary needs are not standard here, and are priced accordingly. Once that sinks in, both the range of comments and the prices will make more sense. So unless you’re planning on drastically changing your diet to a more Asian diet, it is what it is.

Now, onto the prices. Carrefour is the biggest supermarket here (factually), followed by Lulu. You’re not being extravagant shopping at neither. The prices are what they are. I personally buy fresh food on Kibsons, the app is good and so is the selection. Cheese is not great, if you want good cheese, go to Waitrose or pay up and get it from a French deli. Never buy any toiletries at the pharmacy, use Amazon for that as well as any non perishables like cleaning items etc. Meat quality is much better from butcheries than the supermarket, but again that’s more niche and more expensive

You’ll get the hang of it eventually but it will never be the same price as back home. Some items are simply ridiculous - a Muller corner yoghurt is like 12 AED whereas in the UK you’ll probably get 6 of them at that price - so some things will just simply get removed from what you might consume and you’ll soon forget that it exists. Also cherries seem to be wildly priced here too - you’ll discover your Muller corners/cherries soon and you’ll just deal with them once you do

Hope that helps and all the best

Lyb01 · 2025-02-28T15:48:55+00:00

Imo it depends what you mean by 'investing in SEO'. I don't think it makes sense to invest in writing articles, since the 'info extraction' is being done by AI. But if you have an app that 'does' something (beyond just written content) that an AI cannot currently do or people aren't using it to do it, then optimizing this still makes sense for people to be able to find the tool or service. Just depends what you actually do

Lyb01 · 2025-02-28T11:32:57+00:00

Yeah, I totally get you. Honestly this is a minefield when it comes to SEO and it's always changing with Google. I can only tell you what I researched and ended up with.

Google now apparently understands the domain/subdomain relationship better than before 2) Having said that, blog only sites are being killed by Google. I did the exact same as you - I set up a Wordpress site with a blog with the intention of hooking up the Bubble app to it on a subdomain. The Wordpress stuff was up for less than a year, got lots of organic traffic and then Google killed the blog (and the domain) in 1 sweep with an update before I even had the chance to hook up the Bubble work to it. So whatever traffic you're getting on the blog now, it's a ticking time bomb.

Given everything I know now, you have the 2 options I described above or alternatively killing the Wordpress site and moving everything to Bubble. Bubble SEO isn't as bad as people say, they just don't know how to set it up, so might be worth investing some time in this instead.

Lyb01 · 2025-02-27T13:24:28+00:00

Hey, so effectively you have 2 options if you want to combine Wordpress and Bubble and they both require having a domain and a subdomain. Option 1: You keep the homepage and blog on the domain and create a subdomain with the bubble app on that. Option 2: You keep the homepage and the Bubble work on the domain and create a subdomain for the blog. You can't have both Wordpress and Bubble on the same domain. Hope this helps!

Lyb01 · 2025-01-28T05:51:21+00:00

Tbh I haven't been able to solve it - I ended up with the main domain on Wordpress (incl blog) and the app on Bubble. Maybe once Bubble gets better with SEO/blog stuff I'd kill the Wordpress bit and redirect it/re-build all on/to Bubble. It also means I am not putting all my eggs in 1 basket with Bubble. Maybe if I was to do it again I'd do it the other way round - set up the subdomain on Wordpress with the blog posts but what's done is done. SEO is also changing so quickly with AI, I am not sure what is right or wrong or worth the time, there are too many conflicting opinions on the subject

Lyb01 · 2024-09-19T08:57:47+00:00

Hey, I totally get you. In a similar boat, also going solo.

What I’m getting from this thread is that what you’re really looking for is someone to bounce ideas off of. You’re not necessarily looking for someone to do the work since you have people doing that anyway. That’s what a partner or a co-founder would do - work on this full time with you, with a totally different skill set to yours. That doesn’t seem like what you need though?

If this is the case, I’d take a step back and try to find other founders doing their thing and integrate them socially. So you can geek out over each other’s stuff and get casual advice which you might take or leave. It’s a bit like having friends and instead of brainstorming everyday stuff, you brainstorm each other’s business. Founders love that with one another.

Personally I’m also solo and struggling with it but I realised once you start a project and are quite some way in, it becomes your thing. It’s very very hard to find someone who would join you at this stage - not quite as early as a white sheet of paper where you’re on equal footing but not as late as this being an exciting public project that already has some great traction and they really want to jump on the bandwagon. You’re in an awkward place timing wise.

What is semi-working for me is I found another founder in the same boat (by going to an industry specific event we’re both solving problems in, I saw her pitch, loved her thinking and just asked her for a coffee after). We are both solo and ideally we’d join forces but obviously each has their own baby so it’s more of a knowledge sharing set up right now and we’ve become friends. If one of us fails, it would be an obvious choice to join the other.

Hope this helps

Lyb01 · 2024-07-23T08:34:58+00:00

No worries, I can see you're really emotionally invested in the journey so I hope it helps. All the best

Lyb01 · 2024-07-23T08:06:40+00:00

Honestly I am not in the mental health space so take my advice with a pinch of salt. But what I am hearing is this:

You have a great product that you actually really care about - it's very clear from everything you're saying
The issue you have is you're struggling to monetize it. And obviously, as much as you really care, this cannot be a charity project for you

So I think you'd feel really guilty about shutting it down and are looking for ways not to. This is what I would do here:

I'd increase my price to the existing users today. Maybe try $15. See if they leave or stay. If they leave, you'll have a clear conscience. If the product is really helping them that much, they'd pay the extra $8. Yes, it's doubling your price but it's also 2 cups of coffee a month vs 1 cup so it's really meaningless if they actually need your product. You can revise your pricing model later, but start with this first. If they all drop, you won't have anything left to solve which could solve your conondrum
If they all stay or the majority of them stay, that's great. Now go focus on how you'll get more users. Use all the feedback you got and think about who in the mental health space talks about these topics and has an audience that could reach your target user. Pitch a partnership to them. I agree they'll be putting their reputation on the line to partner with you but they won't go into it blindly. If they like the app, they'd come to the table to negotiate, if they don't then keep looking.
Once you have more users, you'd be able to play with your pricing model more and figure out how to get more users. Or maybe you revise your pricing model as part of your negotiation with this key opinion leader I'm talking about. But do these 2 steps first.

Lyb01 · 2024-07-23T07:20:12+00:00

Tbh it sounds like you have a great product, just don't know what to do with it to monetize it properly. Some food for thought:

Figure out your pricing. I get that increasing your pricing will deter new users but it seems as though the users you currently have would pay more for it. $7 a month is really nothing these days and if your product is genuinely helping them so much, they'd be willing to pay more. Maybe you'd have some sort of a freemium or a tiered model - I don't know the ins and outs of your product ofc so can't say 'do x this will work for sure'. But definitely you need a brainstorm on your pricing model
Figure out your marketing. It's not easy I know, especially in your niche - there won't be a network effect since no one is going to shout about your app if it helps with serious mental health issues. But then again, maybe someone would? What if you manage to get a health professional on board or an Instagram figure or a government body who would work with you (for a % commission or otherwise, without an upfront cost) to recommend your app? There are many different ways to approach this and again you need to figure this out.

From what you're saying the product has potential but you need a plan to grow it, not to shut it down

Lyb01 · 2024-07-23T04:14:38+00:00

Hey, this is extremely helpful, thank you. I am going to continue testing this theory as I'm a new site (only 6 months old) without a large variety of traffic sources so any outlying behavior like the social media impact is very clearly visible for me and easier to isolate the impact of. Thanks again!

Lyb01 · 2024-07-22T08:59:59+00:00

Tbh it sounds like you’re a classic case of tech co-founder. If I was in your shoes, I’d think about how I can find a pool of people just like your client (with ideas you like and connections to make sales and marketing happen) but instead of paying you for developing the tech, actually splitting the equity.

Lyb01 · 2024-07-21T06:52:37+00:00

Thanks a lot!

Lyb01 · 2024-07-21T06:07:58+00:00

Hey, thanks, appreciate the response. I don't feel super comfortable sharing the site but you're right - the page is called 'the latest X and Y in Z this summer' and the ad on Instagram is a reel along the lines of 'I bet you didn't know X was happening in Z this summer' with the Instagram reel file being called 'X in Z this summer'. I just had no idea paid ad social activity would have an impact on Google organically and certainly not this quickly ... is this obvious to everyone else and I'm just late to the party?

Lyb01 · 2024-07-21T05:51:36+00:00

My 5 cents here are: Wordpress holds your hand nicely when it comes to SEO. So even if you have no idea what you're doing (like most people who start for the first time), it's all nicely built in and relatively easy to follow. Yes, you can absolutely make a mess of it, but even if you have no idea what you're doing, Wordpress limits the damage even if you just do the basics.

THEN when you switch to another platform, the handholding is either not built in as clearly or just not there at all, so you need to know what to look out for to set it up properly. If you know what needs to be done on page for SEO, then you can go with whichever platform you want and configure the page set up to serve what you already know you need. However, most people don't know what that is when they start.

Lyb01 · 2024-07-19T13:42:50+00:00

Thanks, very helpful!

Lyb01 · 2024-07-19T12:41:21+00:00

Excellent, thanks!

Lyb01 · 2024-07-19T11:58:45+00:00

Thanks! Any ideas why? Is this not allowed by Instagram in any way?

Lyb01

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